THE PAST AND FUTURE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. [By A
CIVIL SERVANT.] "1 cannot use exaggerated language with regard to the merits of the great Service which this country happens to possess."— but ROBERT HORNE, 27th July, 1922.
IJO Civil Servant could read without legitimate pride • -1 -I the generous encomiums which were pronounced in the House of Commons in the course of the debate from which the foregoing is a quotation. Moreover, the tributes came not only from the Government benches, but from other parts of the House as well, and those Members to whom abuse of the Civil Service appears to be almost the breath of their political life were for once silenced. We are, however, arrested by the last three words of the quotation. It cannot be (and we do not imagine that the Chancellor meant to imply) that the particular merits of the British Civil Service are the result of sheer chance ; and it will be well worth while to consider briefly how they came into being, and whether the future promises their continuance. • -1 -I the generous encomiums which were pronounced in the House of Commons in the course of the debate from which the foregoing is a quotation. Moreover, the tributes came not only from the Government benches, but from other parts of the House as well, and those Members to whom abuse of the Civil Service appears to be almost the breath of their political life were for once silenced. We are, however, arrested by the last three words of the quotation. It cannot be (and we do not imagine that the Chancellor meant to imply) that the particular merits of the British Civil Service are the result of sheer chance ; and it will be well worth while to consider briefly how they came into being, and whether the future promises their continuance.
Such merits as the British Civil Service is happily deemed to possess are due in no small part to its system of recruitment by open competition. This system is of comparatively recent introduction. Although most of the great Departments of State, or the origins from which they have grown, were in existence long before 1855, it was only in that year, when the Civil Service Commission was set up to carry out a system of recruit- ment by a test of qualifications, that the Civil Service as we know it can be said to have had its birth. The innovation failed to justify expectation. Though its misuse had been checked, patronage had not been abolished, and the Civil Service Commission was con- demned as "a Board for stereotyping mediocrity or concealing bad appointments." For the ten years from 1860 a system of limited competition was in operation, but this also failed to give satisfaction. The greatest landmark in the history of the Civil Service is the Order in Council of 1870, which established recruitment by open competition, and (to quote the Royal Commission of 1914) "resulted in the creation of a competent, zealous and upright body of officers."
But any system of recruitment would be sterile without adequate attraction. It is a matter of history that, in pre-War days, the status and conditions of service offered to candidates were just sufficient to secure by the com- petitive examination system an excellent type of recruit for each grade, and also to provide (except in the lowest ranks) a livelihood that, if modest, was yet secure and normally free from pecuniary anxiety. This freedom from pre-occupation, together with the concentration of effort rendered possible by well-defined departmental practice, tended to produce a high degree of efficiency upon specialized if narrow lines. The atmosphere in which the functions of the Civil Service were performed was itself conducive to this kind of efficiency. The days in which its destinies would be influenced by political clamoui. were unknown and unforeseen. Government succeeded Government, but the Civil Service was always permitted to pursue the even tenor of its way, knowing no difference between political parties, looking to each Government in turn for fair treatment. The Civil Service was not a pawn in the political game.
It might, perhaps, have been expected that the cumula- tive effect of security of tenure, remuneration on fixed scales with practically automatic annual increments, promotion within a grade mainly by reference to seniority and, above all, infrequent opportunities of advancement to higher grades, would be to stifle initiative and discourage industry. That no tendencies in this direction have ever existed in the Civil Service it would be foolish to contend, but their existence only throws into greater prominence the incalculable value of the countervailing force. If, in spite of the vast additions to its work, in spite of the "staleness " from which the whole country has suffered as a result of War strain, in spite of the disquieting effects of Press and political hostility, and of injustice and broken faith on the part of the Government itself, the Civil Service has so performed its duties as to win appreciation from the present House of Commons, the whole credit is due to Civil Service traditions. These traditions were not created by authority, but have been built up slowly and patiently by the staff. The demo- cratization of the Service, with a widening of functions, gave rise to a new sense of duty and obligation to the State, and from this inspiration came example and emulation, from which gradually evolved a great tradition.
So much for the past : what of the future ? Almost all the foundations on which we deem the efficiency of the Civil Service to have been built have of recent years been undermined. Some interruption of the open com- petitive system of recruitment has doubtless been un- avoidable, but there have been concomitant circumstances that cannot be regarded lightly. Moreover, the Civil Service has become less attractive. Civil Servants, who have suffered the breach of definite undertakings and agreements, and who are daily maligned by venal leaders of public opinion, have no longer any advantage, either in sense of security or in social status, over employees of great industrial and commercial concerns. The pre- War salary scales, too, dimidiated by the alteration in the value of money, and only partially restored by the cost of living adjustment, do not now offer, in the higher ranks particularly, a career sufficient in normal times to attract and retain a personnel of the calibre obtainable before the War. While it is true that in the lower ranks of the Civil Service the existing staff has to a considerable extent been placated by reorganizations and assimila- tions, a policy of spectacular economy exemplified in the super-cut has alienated the respect of the higher ranks. The old atmosphere, too, has changed. The traditional reticence of the Civil Service is being broken down by the necessity of controverting persistent untruth, and the Civil Servant is reluctantly learning how to turn against the politician the latter's own weapons. All this militates against present efficiency and offers a disquieting prospect.
It may be, however, that while the Government takes an acknowledged pride in the Civil Service which it happens to possess, it believes that on the whole, or at any rate at the present time, something cheaper and less efficient would answer sufficiently well. If such a view is held, I believe it to be a mistaken one. The problems left by the War call for still higher administrative ability. So far as we can judge, the public demands more and not less personal attention ; it is less and not more tolerant of irritating error ; in short, it demands a higher and not lower standard of efficiency. There are many indications pointing to a similar attitude towards the conduct of all State business. From all sides the fierce light of jealous criticism beats upon the Civil Service, and the public in its demand for economy contemplates no lowering of the standard of service. The Government of to-day may' pride itself upon the merits of the great Service which this country happens to possess. It has, however, deplorably failed to appreciate that it has been • no more than mere tenant-for-life of this fine inheritance, which it was under a moral obligation to the nation to hand on to its successor, unimpaired in efficiency and • traditions.
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