ividual responsibility for the work of the relevant government department. This means that the minister is answerable for any mistakes, wrongdoing or bad administration which occur, whether personally responsible for them or not. In such cases, the minister may resign, although this is not as common today as in the past. Such responsibility enables Parliament to maintain at least some control over executive actions because the minister is answerable to Parliament. The shadow of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration also hangs over the work of a minister and civil servants.departments (or ministries) are the chief instruments by which central government implements government policy. A change of government does not necessarily alter the number or functions of these departments. However, some governments have occasionally instituted programmes which have involved the reorganization, or replacement of existing ministries. Examples of government departments are the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office, the Department of Education and Science, and the Treasury (of which the Chancellor of the Exchequer is head). Most of these central departments are in London and are collectively known as Whitehall. government departments are staffed by the Civil Service, which consists of career administrators. Civil servants are employed by central government in London and throughout the country, and are involved in a wide range of government activities. They are responsible to the minister in whose department they work for the implementation of government policies. A change of minister or government does not require a change of civil servants, since they are expected to be politically neutral and to serve the sitting government impartially. Restrictions on political activities and publication are consequently imposed upon civil servants in order to ensure neutrality. There are some 600,000 civil servants in Britain today. Nearly half of these are women, but few of them achieve top ranks in the service. have been frequent accusations about the efficiency of the Civil Service, and civil servants do not have a particularly good public image, in spite of attempts at reform. It is often alleged that the service imposes a certain mentality upon the implementation of government policies, which successive ministers have been unable to combat. There may be some areas of concern. But the stereotyped image of the typical civil servant is not reflected in many who do a thorough, independent job of serving their political masters. The Civil Service is also highly regarded in other countries for its efficiency and impartiality. governmentcountries, such as the USA and Canada, are federal. They are made up of a number of states, each of which has its own government with its own powers to make laws and collect taxes. In these countries the central governments have powers only because the state have given them powers. In Britain it is the other way around. Local government authorities (generally known as 'councils') only have powers because the central government has given them powers. Indeed, they only exist because the central government allows them to exist. Several times in the twentieth century British governments have recognized local government, abolishing some local councils and bringing new ones into existence.system of local government is very similar to the system of national government. There are elected representatives, called councillors (the equivalent of MPs). They meet in a council chamber in the Town Hall or Country Hall (the equivalent of Parliament), where they make policy which is implemented by local government officers (the equivalent of civil servants). British people have far more direct dealings with local government than they do with national government. Local councils traditionally manage nearly all public services. Taken together, they employ three times as many people as the national government does. In addition, there is no system in Britain whereby a national government official has responsibility for a particular geographical area. (There is no one like a 'prefect' or 'governor'). In practice, therefore, local councils have traditionally been fairly free from constant central interference in their day to day work.councils are allowed to collect one kind of tax. This is a tax based on property. (All other kinds are collected by central government.) It used to be called 'rates' and was paid only by those who owned property. Its amount varied according to the size and location of the property. In the early 1990s it was replaced by the 'community charge' (known as the 'poll tax'). This charge was the same for everybody who lived in the area covered by a council. It was very unpopular and was quickly replaced by the 'council tax', which is based on the estimated value of a property and the ...
