ABSTRACT
One was that National Curriculum Council (NCC) and School Examinations and Assessment Council (SEAC) had been created against the advice and wishes of the civil servants who had been successful in limiting the powers of both bodies. Once the Schools Council (SC) was abolished it was clear that never again would there be a body that got in the way of civil servants, which threatened ministers, or gave any kind of voice to local government. Civil servants, perhaps due to their own experience, find it difficult either to accept or understand that once politicians set up committees the people appointed are not quasi-civil servants, and are not susceptible to discipline. Judging the influence of the civil servants and whether or not they were speaking for ministers has to be qualified by the knowledge that it is quite possible they were being used by the politicians.
