Style The Right Honourable Inaugural holder Harold Wilson Website The Civil Service | Term length No statutory limit Formation 1 November 1968 | |
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Appointer Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
as sovereign | ||
In British government, the Minister for the Civil Service is responsible for making regulations regarding Her Majesty's Civil Service, the role of which is to assist the governments of the United Kingdom in formulating and implementing policies. The position is invariably held by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Ministry was created for Harold Wilson on 1 November 1968 when responsibilities for the pay and management of the civil service was transferred from Her Majesty's Treasury to a new Civil Service Department. To make clear the continued authority of the First Lord of the Treasury (an office held by the Prime Minister) over the Civil Service, a constitutional convention arose that the Prime Minister would be head of the Department.
Since its inception, the brief has always been held concurrently with the offices of Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury; the list of Ministers for the Civil Service is therefore identical to the list of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom from 1968 onwards.
By the terms of the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992, the Minister may delegate his power to ministers and others such as the Scottish Government. Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed Tom Watson to be responsible for the civil service as the Minister for Digital Engagement and Civil Service Issues.