2 |
Decision-making within government
24.
The
Manual
also describes
the Cabinet Secretary’s advisory role:
“The Prime
Minister decides – with the advice of the Cabinet Secretary – the
overall
structure
of the Cabinet committee system, including … the terms of reference
of
each
Cabinet committee.”8
25.
The
Manual,
according to Sir Gus O’Donnell’s preface, records “the current
position
rather than
driving change”. It is quoted here on that basis.
26.
The Permanent
Secretary (referred to in some departments as the
Permanent
Under
Secretary or PUS) is the most senior civil servant within a
government
department.
He or she is appointed Accounting Officer (AO) for that
department.
27.
The
Ministerial
Code explained that
an AO takes personal responsibility for
the
propriety and regularity of public finances, for keeping proper
accounts, for the
avoidance
of waste and extravagance and for the efficient and effective use
of the
resources
for which they are responsible.9
“Accounting
Officers have a particular responsibility to see that appropriate
advice
is tendered
to Ministers on all matters of financial propriety and regularity
and more
broadly as
to all considerations of prudent and economical administration,
efficiency
and
effectiveness and value for money.”
29.
The PUS of the
FCO is also designated Head of the Diplomatic Service.
30.
In 1997, Mr
Jonathan Powell was appointed as the first Chief of Staff in
No.10.
This was a
new role for a political appointee.
“Robin
[Butler, the Cabinet Secretary] told us we needed a special Order
in Council
to allow
Alastair [Campbell] and me to tell civil servants what to do. He
thought
perhaps
Tony would want another similar political appointee so he suggested
we
allow for
three positions with special powers.”10
32.
That proposal
became the Civil Service (Amendment) Order 1997 which
exempted
“up to
three situations in the Prime Minister’s Office which are
designated by him” from
the
principle of selection on merit based on a fair and open
competition, allowing political
8
Cabinet
Office, The Cabinet
Manual, October
2011, page 32.
9
Cabinet
Office, Ministerial
Code, July
2001, page 22.
10
Powell
J. The New
Machiavelli: How to wield power in the modern world.
The Bodley
Head, 2010.
271