Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Civil Service is independent of His Majesty's Government; and whether the statement that civil servants are independent of Government on the Civil Service ‘About us’ page on Gov.uk is compatible with (1) the Carltona principle, (2) the Civil Service Code, (3) the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, and (4) the Prime minister’s role as Minister for the Civil Service.

The Civil Service ‘About us’ page on Gov.uk was inaccurate and has been updated.

The Armstrong memorandum of 1985 set out that “it is the duty of civil servants to serve their Ministers with integrity and to the best of their ability”, and that “the British civil service is a non-political and disciplined career service”. This was codified in 1996 with the creation of the Civil Service Code, a document that governs the conduct of civil servants to this day.