Premium
BRITAIN'S ADMINISTRATIVE ELITE: PERMANENT SECRETARIES 1900–1986
Author(s) -
THEAKSTON KEVIN,
FRY GEOFFREY K.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9299.1989.tb00718.x
Subject(s) - cabinet (room) , elite , civil service , treasury , service (business) , public administration , political science , rank (graph theory) , business , public service , law , geography , politics , marketing , mathematics , combinatorics , archaeology
This article is based upon analysis of biographical data of those men and women who reached the rank of Permanent Secretary in the career civil service between 1900 and 1986. Among other matters, the article gives details of the schools and universities attended by Permanent Secretaries, their age on, and mode of, entry to the civil service, and their career pattern within that service, including the number of departments served in, the age of appointment to the rank of Permanent Secretary, and the length of tenure in that role. The evidence shows that for the present cadre of Permanent Secretaries the route to the top has been characterized by inter‐departmental mobility, private office service, and experience in the key central departments of the Treasury and the Cabinet Office.