civil service
civil service Administrative establishment for carrying on the work of government. In the UK, the modern service was developed between 1780 and 1870, as the weight of parliamentary business became too heavy for ministers to attend to both policy-making and departmental administration. The Treasury got its first permanent secretary in 1805, the Colonial Office a permanent official in 1825. The two main divisions of the civil service are the Home and Diplomatic services. Since 1968 the civil service has been controlled by the Prime Minister (as minister of the civil service), but day-to-day management is undertaken by the Lord Privy Seal. In 1981 the Secretary to the Cabinet was made Head of the Home Civil Service. In 1996 the Senior Civil Service was created. The UK civil service has grown away from its centre in Whitehall, London, and now has many regional offices. In 1998, there were c.468,180 permanent civil servants in the UK. In the USA, the civil service evolved from the ineffective ‘spoils system’ (1828) established during Andrew Jackson's presidency, whereby posts were given as rewards for political support. This system remained in place until the Pendleton Act (1883) created the Civil Service Commission. The Commission created a merit system, and following the Hatch Acts (1939, 1940), federal employees can no longer play an active role in party politics.
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civil service