ABSTRACT

In order that the minister be seen to be responsible and accountable for the working of his Department, the Civil Service has traditionally been shielded from the public gaze and protected from public inquiry. By protecting the Civil Service, its impartiality and integrity is enhanced. Further, if civil servants become public figures scrutinised in parliament or the media, their capacity for maintaining the appearance of political impartiality, so important to the concept of permanence, would be damaged.