In the United Kingdom, the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees which supports His Majesty's Government (as well as the devolved Scottish Government and Welsh Government – the Northern Ireland Civil Service being a separate civil service), which is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
As in other states that employ the Westminster political system, the Civil Service – often known by the metonym of Whitehall – forms an inseparable part of the British government. The executive decisions of government ministers are implemented by the Civil Service. Civil servants are employees of the Crown and not of the British parliament. Civil servants also have some traditional and statutory responsibilities which to some extent protect them from being used for the political advantage of the party in power. Senior civil servants may be called to account to Parliament.
