ABSTRACT
The pace and nature of administrative reform between 1966 and 1981, as has been seen, was determined by many external and internal forces. Principal amongst the former were the state of the economy; evolving views about the proper role of government; changes in management theory and practice; and escalating militancy within the workforce. Principal amongst the latter were the federal nature of the Service; a weakening of the centre by its division between the Treasury and the CSD; and battles at all levels between policy advisers, managers and the managed. With rising political hostility and an eroding power base, successive Heads of the Civil Service were increasingly impotent to deliver reform. This is not what had been envisaged by modernisers in the 1960s. In addition to such broad infl uences, there were particular managerial challenges with which reform was intertwined. Principal among these were the provision of training and pensions; the dispersal of government offi ces from London; the adaptation of employment practices to new conceptions of gender and race; and the introduction of new technology. It is upon these that this chapter will concentrate. Each was later to assume greater importance but before 1981 they were more than mere harbingers of the future. They were important in their own right. What light does each shine on the attitudes to, and achievements of, reform?
