Portrait of an ‘outsider’ as permanent secretary in Whitehall
The life and times of Michael Bichard – an un-mandarin like mandarin 1
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10106160 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Ribbins (University of Birmingham, corresponding author), Brian Sherratt (University of Birmingham) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 375-396 |
| Publication date | 2021-12-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Educational Administration & History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0620 • E-ISSN: 1478-7431 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00220620.2021.2005554 |
| OpenAlex | W4200318365 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 16 |
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
Art history · Bureaucracy · Civil service · Context (archaeology · Economics · Government (linguistics · Management · Mandarin Chinese · Political science · Politics · Portrait · Public service · Sociology · State (computer science · Value (mathematics · Healthcare innovation and challenges · History · Law · Philosophy · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research
New Labour and the Civil Service
Democracy, bureaucracy and public choice
Britain's Administrative Elite
What Prospects for the Civil Service
Understanding Leadership in Education
Biography in the study of public administration
Beyond opportunism
The Permanent Secretaries
Permanent Secretaries and Policy-Making in the 1980s
Centrism and the mandarin class
The managerial imperative
Reforming the Civil Service and revising the role of the mandarin in Britain
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |