A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
IT is stated that Sir Horace Wilson will shortly be retiring from his position as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, which carries with it the titular post of Head of the Civil Service. Whether that is so or not—Sir Horace, it is true, reaches the retiring age of 6o in August, but the normal practice in such matters is often varied in war-time—the statement is useful as drawing attention to the whole question of the headship of the Civil Service. Sir Warren Fisher, Sir Horace Wilson's predecessor, was, I believe, the first holder of that title, which was not conferred on him (by Mr. Baldwin) till he had been Permanent Secretary of the Treasury for some years. The question, and it is highly important, is whether, now that the Civil Service has grown to such dimensions even in peace- time, the great power wielded by the Head of the Civil Service ought to be in the hands of any civil servant at all, however eminent. Those powers include the nomination of civil servants for honours, a good deal of influence over promotions in the Service, and the right of veto on appointments to the staffs of particular departments. Sharp complaints have been made of the way in which the present and past Heads of the Civil Service have used their authority at different times. One result of the power they enjoy is that a civil servant with any concern about his own future tends to be always working with one eye on his own Minister and the other on the Head of the Service—by no means a happy arrangement. There are strong reasons for urging that most of the powers now enjoyed by the Head of the Civil Service should be put in the hands of a Minister who can be questioned in Parliament as a civil servant cannot.
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