Speak about the government of Great Britian in general.

Compare the structure of the government of Great Britian and the government of the Russian Federation.

Speak about the influence of the political parties on the structure of British government.

Text 2.

The structure of the Civil Service in Great Britain

The day-to-day running of the government and the implementation of its policy continue in the hands of the same people that were there with the previous government – the top rank of the Civil Service. Governments come and go, but the Civil Service remains.

The Civil Service is concerned with the conduct of the whole range of government activities as they affect the community ranging from policy formulation to executing the day- to- day duties that public administration demands.

Civil Servants are servants of the Crown. They are responsible to the minister in whose department they work for the execution of the minister's policies. Ministers alone are answerable to Parliament for their policies and the actions of their staff. A change of minister for whatever reason, does not involve a change of staff. Ministers sometimes appoint special policy advisers from outside the Civil Service; the advisers are paid from public funds, but their appointments come to an end when the Government's term of office finishes.

The structure of the Home Civil Service is designed to allow for a flexible deployment of staff so that talent can be used to the best advantage, with higher post open to people of outstanding ability, whatever their specialist background or original method of entry into the Service. Although work requiring specialist skill is always done by appropriately qualified individuals, personnel management policies are designed to ensure that people with the necessary qualities gain suitable wide experience to fit them for higher posts.

At the top levels of the Civil Service there is an open and unified structure, comprising three grades - permanent secretary, deputy secretary and under secretary. With very few exceptions, staff at this level share the same pay and grading system whatever their background and duties.

At other levels the structure is based on a system of categories and occupational groups, which are the basic groupings of staff for the purposes of pay, recruitment and personnel management. These include the General Category (covering the Administration, Economist, Statistician, Information Officer and Librarian groups), the Science Category, the Professional and Technology Category (including architects, surveyors, electrical and mechanical engineers, graphics officers and marine services staff), and the Training, Legal, Police, Secretarial, Data Processing, Research Officer, Social Security, Security and Museum Categories. These 12 categories account for some 75 per cent of non-industrial staff.

The Diplomatic Service, a separate service, provides the staff for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and at United Kingdom diplomatic missions and consular posts abroad. Its functions include advising on policy, negotiating with overseas governments and conducting business in international organisations; promoting British exports and trade generally, administering aid, presenting ideas, policies and objectives to the people of overseas countries; and protecting British interests abroad.

The Service has its own grade structure, linked for salary purposes with that of the Home Civil Service, and conditions of work are in many ways comparable while taking into account the special demands of the Service, particularly of postings overseas. Members of the Home Civil Service and the armed forces and individuals from the private sector, may serve in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and at overseas posts on loan or attachment.

 

Vocabulary

1. be concerned with – касаться, относиться

2. conductn – (зд.) ведение (дел), руководство

3. affect v – воздействовать, влиять

4. rangefromv – колебаться в пределах, диапазоне

5. execute v – исполнять, выполнять

6. staff, personnel (n) – штат, персонал, кадры

7. involvev – (зд.) включать (в себя)

8. flexible a – гибкий

9. deployment n – размещение

10. gain v – получать, приобретать

11. experience n – опыт

12. appropriatelyadv. – соответствующее, нужным образом

13. fitsmb. forsmth. v – делать кого-то соответствующим чему-либо

14. unified – объединенная, единая

15. permanent secretary – постоянный заместитель министра

16. under secretary – заместитель министра

17. grading system – система степеней

18. background (n) – зд. образование, опыт

19. occupational groups – профессиональные группы

20. surveyor n – топограф, землемер

21. marine a - морской

22. to negotiate v – вести переговоры

23. toadministerv – управлять, заведовать

24. onloan – (зд.) по договору

25. attachment n – прикомандирование

Assignments to Text 2

I. Practice the pronunciation of the following words:

 

- conduct, staff, surveyor, advantage, recruitment, architect, research, exports, category, requiring, individual, statistician, personnel

- to execute, to design, to administer, to negotiate, to ensure appropriately, qualified, comparable, consular, marine

 

II. Form nouns from the following verbs using suffixes and translate them into Russian:

-ment, -tion, -(s)ion

 

to manage to require to appoint to execute to provide

to recruit

to negotiate

to act

to protect

to organize

III. Translate the following sentences from the text into Russian. Try to define a clause type.

 

1. The Civil Service is concerned with the conduct of the whole range of government activities as they affect the community.

2. The structure of the Home Civil Service is designed to allow for a flexible deployment of staff so that talent can be used to the best advantage.

3. Although work requiring specialist skill is always done by appropriately qualified individuals, personnel management policies are designed to ensure that people with the necessary qualities gain suitable experience.

4. At other levels the structure is based on a system of categories and occupational groups, which are the basic groupings of staff.

5. Civil Servants are responsible to the minister in whose department they work.

6. The advisers are paid from public funds, but their appointments come to an end when the Government's term of office finishes.

7. Despite their background and duties staff at the top level share the same pay and grading system.

8. The day-to-day running of the government and the implementation of its policy continue in the hands of the same people that were with the previous government – the top rank of the civil service.

 

IV. Find the English equivalents to the following words and word combinations:

 

постоянное управление правительством

быть связанным с проведением широкого диапазона управленческих мероприятий

государственное управление

отвечать перед парламентом за политику

советники

общественные фонды

приобрести необходимый обширный опыт

политика управления персоналом

статистик

обработка информации

топографы

обеспечение британского экспорта

 

V. Insertprepositionsifnecessary:

 

1. The Civil Service is concerned … the conduct … the whole range … government activities.

2. Civil Servants are responsible … the Minister … whose department they work.

3. The structure of the Home Civil Service is designed to allow … a flexible deployment … staff.

4. … very few exceptions, staff … the top level share the same pay and grading system.

5. The Diplomatic Service provides the staff … the Foreign and Commonwealth office.

6. Functions of the Diplomatic Service include advise … policy, negotiating … overseas governments.

7. The basic groupings of staff include … the General Category, the Science Category, the Professional and Technology Categories, etc.

8. … the top levels … the Civil Service there is an open and unified structure.

9. At lower levels the structure of the Civil Service is based … a system … categories and occupational groups.

10. Ministers alone are answerable … Parliament … their policies and the actions … their staff.

VI. Complete the following sentences:

 

1. The Diplomatic Service, a separate service, provides ….

2. The structure of the Home Civil Service is designed to allow for ….

3. Civil Servants are ….

4. The Civil Service is concerned with ….

5. A change of minister for whatever reason, ….

6. At the top levels of the Civil Service there is ….

7. The day-to-day running of the government and the implementation of its policy ….

8. With very few exceptions, staff at the top level share ….

9. The Diplomatic Service's functions include ….

10. Ministers sometimes appoint ….

11. Governments come and go, but ….

VII. Match the following words to form word combinations from the text:

 

1. The day-to-day 2. Public administration 3. Special policy 4. Term of 5. Flexible 6. (a) unified 7. an occupational 8. (a) general 9. deputy 10. personnel management 11. wide

a. demands b. deployment c. running of the government d. group e. advisers f. office g. structure h. secretary i. category j. experience k. policies

 

VIII. Answer the following questions:

 

1. Does the day-to-day running of the government continue in the hands of the same people that were there with the previous government?

2. What is the Civil Service concerned with?

3. Civil servants are servants of the Crown, aren't they?

4. Who are civil servants responsible to?

5. Does a change of minister involve a change of staff?

6. What is the aim of personnel management policies?

7. What is there at the top levels of the Civil Service?

8. Is the structure at other levels based on a system of categories and occupational groups?

9. Who do categories and occupational groups include?

10. What does the Diplomatic Service provide for?

11. Who does the top rank of the civil service include?

IX. Read the following definitions of the words. Find the corresponding words in the text:

 

- the people employed by a firm or other large organization

- able to be changed or adapted

- placement

- a person who recommends something to somebody

- an expert in statistics

- an expert in inspection of an area, building, etc.

- what you ought to do or must do

 

X. Comment on the following sentences from the text:

 

1. Governments come and go, but the civil service remains.

2. The structure of the Home Civil Service is designed to allow for a flexible deployment of staff so that talent can be used to the best advantage.

3. Members of the Home Civil Service and the armed forces, and individuals from the private sector, may serve in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and at overseas posts on loan and attachment.

XI. Find a “key-sentence” in each paragraph.

XII. Give a summary of the text.

XIII. Comment on professional duties of the following positions mentioned in the text:

 

- an economist

- a statistician

- an information officer

- a surveyor

- a graphics officer

- an architect

- marine services staff

- a research officer

- a librarian

- data processing staff

 

What categories do all these civil servants belong to?

XIV. Translate into English:

 

1. Госслужащие подотчетны тому министру, в департаменте которого они работают.

2. Снятие с должности министра по каким-либо причинам не влечет за собой смену сотрудников департамента.

3. Британские министры иногда назначают специальных советников, как правило, не из числа госслужащих.

4. Кадровая политика Британии проводится так, чтобы служащие, обладающие нужной компетенцией и необходимыми знаниями, смогли занять высшие должности.

5. Верхние уровни госслужбы в Великобритании строятся по единому образцу.

6. Дипломатическая служба обеспечивает персоналом офис Министерства иностранных дел и по делам Содружества.

7. Функции Дипломатической службы включают: ведение переговоров с иностранными правительствами, обеспечение британского экспорта, защиту государственных интересов за рубежом.

8. Структура государственной службы в Великобритании базируется на том, чтобы позволить гибкое размещение персонала.

9. Правительства приходят и уходят, а структура стструктурасссуктурагосударственной службы остается.

10. Работа госслужащих на высших должностях, оплачивается, за некоторым исключением, одинаково, несмотря на их опыт и обязанности.

XV. Topics for discussion:

 

1. Speak about the structure of the civil service in Great Britian in general.

2. Compare the structure of the civil service in Great Britain and Russia. Are there any differences?

3. Speakabouttheproblemof a flexibledeploymentofstaffinthestructureofcivilservicewithregardtoGreatBritainandRussia.