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ABSTRACT
This paper reports a study of permanent secretaries who served at the Department for Education (DfE) from 1975 to 2011. Located within a context of theories that explain how government bureaucracies operate, it focuses on Michael Bichard. Appointed in July 1995 when attempts were being made to open Whitehall to non-career civil servants, he retired in May 2001 having served 21 months with a Conservative and 48 months with a Labour Secretary of State. He was an unusual permanent secretary. An outsider, state school and red-brick university educated whose father had been a docker, his prior service was in local government. Inter alia, the paper traces his background and career; his role in the merger of the Departments for Education and Employment (DfEE); his relationship with his Secretaries of State; his contribution to education policy; and his estimation of his style and achievements. Consideration is also given to the value of external appointments and to the merits of a descriptive based approach to the study of public sector administration.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The term ‘mandarin’ has a long history. Its origins can be dated to 605 when officials in China were first selected as a result of a rigorous examination process. It has since come to be used in many Western nations to refer to senior civil servants, notably permanent secretaries or their equivalent. This is especially the case in Great Britain where in 1854 a similarly demanding examination-based process of selection was introduced. In our interviews, politicians and senior civil servants often used the term as do many books and articles fictional (Wilson Citation2015) and scholarly. In an example of the latter former Cabinet Secretary Lord Wilson (Citation2006) acknowledges
I know of no definition of the ‘mandarin’ beyond the definition in the OED which says: ‘a grotesque toy figure in Chinese costume that goes nodding after it is shaken’ (6).
Even so, he goes on to suggest they
were public figures of intelligence, character and ability, who worked behind the scenes managing the processes of government excellently and without political involvement … They were not afraid of speaking truth unto power and they made available to ministers the corporate wisdom and memory of the Service built up over many years (6).
He warns, however, that whilst some of this is still true, things have changed – not always for the better.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Peter Ribbins
Peter Ribbins is Emeritus Professor in Educational Management and was Dean of the Faculty of Education and Continuing Studies at Birmingham University. He has been Chairman of the Council of BELMAS and was editor of Educational Management and Administration. He has researched and published on many aspects of leadership and policy in education, in the UK and elsewhere.
Email: [email protected]
Brian Sherratt
Brian Sherratt was from 1984 to 2005 headteacher of Great Barr, Birmingham, the largest secondary school in the UK. His PhD reported on a ground breaking empirical and theoretical study of the role of the permanent secretary in the UK. Subsequently, he has pursued this and other research interests in education policy-making and policy implementation in the UK.
Email: [email protected]