Whitehall & Modern British Bureaucracy

Question 1

What is Whitehall?

Answer 1

A place, a mentality, a group of offices and functions

Question 2

What is the institutional structure of Whitehall?

Answer 2

• Departments of varying size and importance, existing by statue, headed by secretaries of state (Cabinet)
• Currently 25 ministerial departments
• Very hierarchical
• Head of the Civil Service is the Cabinet secretary
• ‘Permanent Secretaries’ for each of the departments: administrative head (vs secretary of state/ministers which is a political head)

Question 3

What described civil servants pre-1854?

Answer 3

• Generalist civil servants: classically educated, intended to be able to move between departments and focuses
• This reinforced the class system and hierarchy in Whitehall
• Focus was on being policy advisors, rather than administrators

Question 4

What are the approaches to understanding Whitehall?

Answer 4

• All interest in how the bureaucracy sits whiten the political power structure
• Westminster Model
• Differentiated Polity Model
• Asymmetric Power Model
• Rational Choice (Utility maximising) Models

Question 5

What are the rational choice models?

Answer 5

• Budget-maximised model (Niskanen)
  
  • Higher departmental budget = more power
  • This is said to the the goal of civil servants
• Bureau-shaping model (Dunleavy)
  
  • Bigger departmental role = more power
  • This is said to the the goal of civil servants

Question 6

What is true of modern diversity?

Answer 6

Generally low levels of minorities (and women) in higher levels of civil service

Question 7

What is the Westminster model?

Answer 7

• A unitary state (before devolution)
• Parliamentary sovereignty
• Strong cabinet government
• Accountability through free and fair elections
• Majority party control of the executive
• Parliamentary conventions
• Institutionalised opposition

Question 8

What does a hollowed out government mean?

Answer 8

Welfare state on it’s way out