Task 1. Read and translate the text. The Civil Service is a very important and extremely highly valued body in the machinery of government

The Civil Service is a very important and extremely highly valued body in the machinery of government. MPs are elected for 5 years' term, ministers are appointed for 5 years, they are changeable, not permanent. But the Civil Service is a permanent body of officials that keeps the wheels of government turning. The position and function of the Civil Service remain the same whichever political party may be in power.

Civil servants are servants of the Crown. The constitutional and political role of the Civil Service is to help the Government of the United Kingdom and the administrations formulate the policies, carry out decisions and administer public services for which they are responsible. Execution of policy depends on the work of hundreds of thousands of public servants, such as administrative, managerial, executive, clerical and so on. They may be found in nearly all the great Departments of State. The most important is the administrative class.

This class, numbering about 1200, occupies all the controlling positions in the Service. 3/4 of its members are recruited by a severe open competitive examination from the most able university graduates while the remainder (1/4) is promoted from subordinate groups of classes. The candidate should satisfy certain conditions of character, health, age, nationality. The employed officials are required to observe the code of conduct preventing them from betrayal of trust, they cannot offer themselves as candidates to Parliament, they are restricted in participation in municipal elections, they can not be indulged in political or party controversy, they should be reserved and impartial in political matters, they may not belong to trade unions. They should make a corps of administrators whose competence, integrity and devotion to the public weal is unquestionable and on whose loyalty, obedience and neutrality the Government of the day can rely.

The heart of the Civil Service is the Cabinet Office, whose Secretary is the senior civil servant at any given time, responsible for the smooth running of the whole Civil Service. In each ministry or department the senior official is Permanent Secretary and his immediate subordinates are Under-secretaries and Assistant Secretaries. They work with the ministers assisting them in implementation of government policy. In Whitehall it is said in jest that the duty of a minister is only to hold a gun and it is the permanent Secretary who will instruct him what to aim at and when to pull the trigger. But when fighting for the interests of their department or ministry civil servants demonstrate traditionally strong loyalty to their minister and together with him they will make the strongest of allies.

To serve the State well and faithfully is regarded in Britain as one of the highest callings to which a man can devote his life. The social status of the Civil Service is extremely high and unrelated to its material rewards.

Notes to the text:

public weal – общее благо

Civil Service – государственная служба

Cabinet Office – секретариат кабинета министров

Permanent Secretary – постоянный заместитель министра

Under-secretaries and Assistant Secretaries – заместители постоянных заместителей министров

to say in jest – сказать в шутку

to pull the trigger – спустить курок

to be unrelated to – не иметь отношения к чему-либо

Task 2. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word combinations: аппарат правительства, избираться на пятилетний срок, чиновник (должностное лицо), выполнять решения, управлять государственными службами, конкурсный экзамен, остальные, выдвигать (продвигать), соответствовать определенным условиям, соблюдать нормы поведения, быть ограниченным, муниципальные выборы, беспристрастный, преданность не подлежит сомнению, послушание, полагаться на что-либо, слаженная работа, непосредственно подчиненный, претворение в жизнь политики правительства, сильнейший из союзников, высшее призвание, материальная награда.

Task 3. State the function of the infinitives in the following sentences:

1. The constitutional and political role of the Civil Service is to help the Government of the United Kingdom and the administrations….

2. To serve the State well and faithfully is regarded in Britain as one of the highest callings….

Task 4. Find synonyms from the text to the following words: to help, loyalty, a joke, execution, operation, to govern, to show.

Task 5. Answer the questions:

1. What is the Civil Service?

2. What is the role of the Civil Service?

3. How is the administrative class of civil servants recruited?

4. What conditions should a candidate satisfy?

5. What code of conduct should civil servants observe?

6. What is the heart of the Civil Service? Who is in charge of it?

7. What is the hierarchy of civil servants in each ministry?

8. Who has the greater power – a minister or a permanent secretary?

UNIT 6

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20