HC Deb 02 December 1947 vol 445 cc198-9
56 and 57. Major Legge-Bourke

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what were the original duties of the Head of the Civil Service at the time of the first appointment to that office; in what respects those duties have since changed; if he is satisfied that in the light of experience there is any justification for the continuance of this office; and on what grounds;

(2) whether the assurance given by His Majesty's Government on 13th December, 1944, that the authority of the Head of the Civil Service no longer extended to the Foreign Office, still applies; to what other Departments it has ceased to extend, and what further alterations of this authority he intends to make.

Sir S. Cripps

It was laid down in 1919 that the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury should act as permanent head of the Civil Service and should advise the First Lord (the Prime Minister) in regard to higher Civil Service appointments. There is no office of permanent or official head of the Civil Service. That is simply a designation which has attached to the holder of the post of Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. I am not aware of any change in the duties of the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury since 1919, and none is contemplated, other than the fact that the Foreign Service has, since 1944, been entirely separate from the Home Civil Service. As I explained in the answer which I gave the hon. and gallant Member on 18th November, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury has no authority over any Department other than the Treasury.