Executive agencies

Executive agencies were introduced to deliver government services more efficiently and effectively within available resources. They are part of the Civil Service but, under the terms of individual framework documents and subject to overall budgets agreed with their parent department and/or the Treasury, they have the delegated authority to employ their own staff and to organise service provision in ways best suited to meet customer needs. Agencies are directly accountable to ministers

Agencies are headed by chief executives, who are personally responsible for day-to-day operations. They are normally directly accountable to the responsible minister, who in turn is accountable to Parliament. Abolition, privatisation, contracting-out, merger or rationalisation of a given government function are all options considered on their merits before an agency is set up.

Certain changes to the way agencies will operate in the future, including how they will be reviewed, have been set out in a policy review report - 'Better Government Services: Executive Agencies in the 21st Century' - published in July 2002.

Members of the Cabinet

1. Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury

and Minister for the Civil Service Tony Blair

2. Deputy Prime Minister

First Secretary of State John Prescott

3. Chancellor of the Exchequer

Second Lord of the Treasury Gordon Brown

4. Secretary of State for Foreign and

Commonwealth Affairs Jack Straw

5. Secretary of State for the Home Department David Blankett

6. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and

Rural Affairs Margaret Beckett

7. Secretary of State for Transport

Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Darling

8. Secretary of State for Health John Reid

9. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Paul Murphy

10. Secretary of State for Defence Geoff Hoon

11. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry

Minister for Women and Equality Patricia Hewitt

12. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Tessa Jowell

13. Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury

Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong

14. Secretary of State for Education and Skills Charles Clarke

15. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng

Leader of the House of Commons

16. Lord Privy Seal Peter Hain

Secretary of State for Wales

17. Minister without Portfolio and Party Chair Ian McCartney

18. Leader of the House of Lords

Lord-President of the Council The Baroness Amos

19.Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs

Lord Chancellor The Lord Falconer of Thoroton

20.Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn

21.Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Alan Johnson

22.Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alan Milburn

The Civil Service

The term Civil Service covers all non-military permanent servants of the State. Each government department has a large staff of Civil Servants. They do most of the actual work of running the department. But the head of the department is politically responsible for all that is done by the Civil Servants in his department.

There are several classes of Civil Servants, ranging from theclericalclass (the lowest) to theadministrativeclass (the highest).

The constitutional and practical role of the Civil Service in Great Britain is to help the Government of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales formulate their policies, carry out decisions and administer public services for which they are responsible. A separate Northern Ireland Civil Service was created in 1921 to serve the local administration. Its present role is to support the Northern Ireland Executive in the administration of public services for which it has responsibility.

The Civil Service has no separate constitutional responsibility Civil servants are servants of the Crown. In effect, this means the Government of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales. Executive powers are generally exercised by ministers of the Crown, who are in turn answerable to the appropriate Parliament or Assembly. The Civil Service as such has no separate constitutional personality or responsibility. The duty of the individual civil servant is first and foremost to the minister in charge of the department in which he or she is serving. A change of minister, for whatever reason, does not involve a change of staff.

Cabinet ministers may each appoint a maximum of two special advisers. The Prime Minister approves all appointments and they are paid for from public funds. There are about 80 such advisers in the present administration. Their appointments come to an end when the Government's term of office finishes or when the appointing minister leaves the Government or moves to another appointment.

The Civil Service Code, introduced in 1996, is a concise statement of the role and responsibilities of civil servants. It was revised in 1999 to take account of devolution. The Code includes an independent line of appeal to the Civil Service Commissioners on alleged breaches of the Code.

As of June 2001, civil servants constituted about 2 per cent of the working population in employment and about 10 per cent of all public sector employees.

About half of all civil servants provide services direct to the public. These include paying benefits and pensions, running employment services, staffing prisons, issuing driving licences, and providing services to industry and agriculture. Around one in five are employed in the Ministry of Defence and its agencies. The rest are divided between central administrative and policy duties, support services, and services that are largely financially self-supporting, such as those provided by the Royal Mint. About 80 per cent of civil servants work outside London.

The Civil Service Commissioners are responsible for ensuring that recruitment to the Civil Service should be on merit and based on fair and open competition. The Commissioners, who are independent of government, produce a mandatory recruitment code and audit the recruitment policies and practices of departments and agencies to ensure that they comply. They also approve appointments through external recruitment to the Senior Civil Service and hear and determine appeals in cases of concern about propriety and conscience under the Civil Service Code.

As Minister for the Civil Service, the Prime Minister is responsible for central co-ordination and management of the Civil Service. He is supported by the Head of the Home Civil Service, who chairs the Civil Service Management Board. The Cabinet Office oversees the central framework for management of the Civil Service. Day-to-day responsibility for a wide range of terms and conditions has been delegated to departments and agencies, and to the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales.