ABSTRACT
The official part of the department comprises civil servants, headed by the Permanent Secretary. Civil servants in the department answer to the minister through the Permanent Secretary. There are three ranks of junior minister: ministers of state, parliamentary under-secretaries of state and parliamentary secretaries. Traditionally, one route to reaching junior ministerial office has been through serving as a parliamentary private secretary. A minister may, and frequently does, invite the special adviser to stay with them if they are moved to another post. The Permanent Secretary is answerable to the minister for what goes on in the department. For most of the period since the formation of a professional civil service through to the late twentieth century, the service had a rigid hierarchy. Ministers are powerful by virtue of the constitutional convention of individual ministerial responsibility. The doctrine confers important legal, departmental and even parliamentary powers.
