The Civil Service Reforms of the 1980s
Edited by Michael Kandiah and Rodney Lowe
Published by ICBH, 2007
These witness seminars were organised by the Centre for Contemporary British History, the Cabinet Office Histories, Openness and Records Unit and Churchill College Cambridge. This publication forms part of the official history of the Civil Service being written by Professor Rodney Lowe.
The three seminars covered:
the 1981 Civil Service Strike;
the demise of the Civil Service Department and the Resignation of Sir Ian Bancroft as Head of the Civil Service November 1981;
the Genesis and Initial Implementation of Next Steps.
The full transcript of the seminar is now available, with background paper, chronology and annotations, and a final comment from Sir Peter Kemp.
Click here to download the seminar as a pdf: The Civil Service Reforms of the 1980s (opens in a new window)
Witnesses included (with relevant role at the time):
LORD ARMSTRONG Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, to 31 Dec 1987
SIR JOHN HERBECQ Second Permanent Secretary, CSD
SIR JOHN HOSKYNS Head, No 10 Policy Unit
DR CAMPBELL CHRISTIE Deputy General Secretary, Society of Civil and Public Servants
LORD CHRISTOPHER General Secretary, Inland Revenue Staff Federation
MIKE FOGDEN Chairman, First Division Association
SIR ALASTAIR GRAHAM Deputy General Secretary, Civil and Public Service Association
SIR ROBIN IBBS Prime Minister’s Adviser on Efficiency and Effectiveness
KATE JENKINS Head of the Efficiency Unit and joint author of Next Steps
SIR PETER KEMP Second Permanent Secretary and Next Steps Project Manager, OMCS
CLIVE PRIESTLEY Chief of Staff to Derek Rayner, Efficiency Unit, PMO
Chief of Staff to Derek Rayner, Efficiency Unit, PMO
LORD RADICE Labour Party member of the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee
SIR ADAM RIDLEY Special Adviser, Treasury
SANDY RUSSEL Under Secretary, CSD
LORD WALDEGRAVE Minister for Housing, later Head of the Office of Public Service and Science, 1992-4
SIR CLIVE WHITMORE Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
LORD WILSON Deputy Secretary, Cabinet Office, later Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, 1998-2002