Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee visits Berlin as part of its inquiries into devolution and the civil service

• Inquiry: Civil Service Leadership and Reform
• Inquiry: Devolution Capability in Whitehall
• Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

Committee members held a roundtable discussion with the State Secretaries from a number of Germany’s federal states, and met with the Deputy Director General of the Federal Interior Ministry, as well as academics, representatives from Germany’s primary civil servants’ union, the DBB, and HM Ambassador and Deputy Ambassador, together with other staff at the British Embassy in Berlin. 

The Committee was investigating governance of the civil service and studying the mechanisms and distribution of power within Germany’s federal system.  

Meetings were held with: 

• HM Ambassador Jill Gallard and Deputy Ambassador Kieran Drake, as well as other Embassy staff 
• Representatives from the DBB, Germany’s primary civil servants’ union 
• Bundesland State Secretaries, including the Senior Ministerial Advisor of Bavaria, the Head of Representation of North-Rhine Westphalia, the State Secretary of Saxony-Anhalt, the Head of Representation of Bremen, and Head of Representation of Baden-Württemberg 
• The Deputy Director General of the Federal Interior Ministry 
• Academics from the University of Potsdam and Freie Universität Berlin 
• Representatives from the Bundestag Committee on Interior and Home Affairs, and the Bundesrat Interior Committee 

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

Image: Parliamentary Copyright