Crown Adjutant Clerk Corps
The Crown Adjutant Clerk Corps of the Royal Union of Kouralia is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports the Kouralian Crown Government. These individuals work do formulate and carry out of the political Justiciars of State, and are protected by numerous regulatory and statutory measures to ensure their independence and apolitical nature.
While they support the Executive branch of government they answer to the Senate of Kurton and can be held accountable by Select Committees for misconduct, failing to discharge duties impartially, or improper use of public funds. This last form of accountability often causes the CACC staff working within the Justiciary for War to come into conflict with the military staffs, as they experience a greater concern for financial constraints on operations - even where personnel safety is an issue. Not all public sector employees are Crown Adjutant Clerks, as many public servants are actually Crown Servants, Crown Officers, or otherwise employed by the Kouralian Government. Below are those who do not count as Crown Adjutant Clerks:
- Political Officials - Including elected Senators and Assemblypersons, and appointed Noble Assembly Electors.
- Political Staffs - Including personal staff appointees of the above officials and permanent employees of the above institutions.
- Directorate Employees - Executive agencies or an Independent Crown Offices (managerially and budgetarily separate departments, such as the Inspectorate of RICE or Crown Prosecutor's Office).
- Ambaatyne Clerical Service - The permanent staff body of the foreign and diplomatic-focused Legatine Justiciary. Transfer between the ACS and CACC is possible, but foreign service requires additional qualifications and experience which can be difficult to obtain in the CACC.
- Regional Public Servants - Those who fulfil the same roles for Provincial Governates and local authority councils.
- Servicepersons - Members of the Kouralian Military.
- Emergency Services - Attested Watchmen and civilian staff of territorial Watches or the Treasury Guard, Firewatch Staff, Crown Waterguard Officers, and Ambulance Service staff.
- Royal Health and Social Care Service staff.
- Employees of the Royal Households.
- Officers of the Crown
Organisation
Each Justiciary is more-or-less independent of each-other in terms of functioning, and there is no central control of the Justiciaries based on instruction from senior Adjutant Clerks. There is a section of the Corps which works for the Justiciary of the Crown, however it is only partially responsible for strengthening the Corps through driving efficiency and effectiveness and managing recruitment, progression and capability. The majority of the Justiciary of the Crown's role is supporting the Crown Captain of Justiciars to define and deliver the government's objectives, implement political and constitutional reform, and drive forward from the centre particular cross-departmental priority issues, and to support the cabinet.
The head of the Adjutant Clerk Corps is the Principal Permanent Under-Secretary to the Crown, and they act as the joint operational head of the Justiciary of the Crown alongside the Chief of Staff to the Captain of Justiciars. This figure is a Special Advisor appointed by the Captain rather than a permanent apolitical figure, while the Principal Permanent Secretary is appointed by the Captain from the relevant talent pool on the advice of the outgoing Secretary and the Adjutant Clerks' Independence Commission. Each Justiciary's staff is headed by a Permanent Under-Secretary who runs the department on a day to day basis. They act as the accounting officers for Justiciaries, meaning that they are answerable to the Senate for ensuring that the Justiciary spends money granted by the Senate appropriately. Permanent Under-Secretaries are thus frequently called for questioning by the Public Accounts Committee and select committees of the Senate. The permanent under-secretary usually chairs a Justiciary's management board which consists of executive members (other adjutant clerks in the department) and non-executive directors.
Below the executive level are a myriad number of manager and practitioner grades of Adjutant Clerks. These are traditionally styled as 'XXX' Officers, where the 'XXX' is replaced by an appropriate descriptor of their role. Airport Customsand Immigrations Inspectors are correctly termed, for example, Leading Inspecting Officer.
Grading
While the Adjutant Clerk Corps is not as hierarchical as an armed service, it still features clearly delineated staffing grades. These can relate both to managerial authority and to pay-scales. Senior members of the Executive Management band are part of the Permanent Secretarial Management Committee which is headed by the Principal Permanent Secretary to the Crown Captaincy. While Directorate and Legatine staff are notionally of the same grade as Secretariat staff, authority is principally appointment-based along with the Secretariat adopting a 'senior service' stance - for example when comparing a Director-General to an Under-Secretary.
Grade | Secretariat | Directorate | Legatine |
---|---|---|---|
Executive-Level Management | |||
E-4
|
Permanent Under-Secretary
|
||
E-3
|
Under-Secretary
|
Director-General
|
Principal Ambaatyne Legate
|
E-2
|
Assistant Under-Secretary
|
Director
|
Ambaatyne Legate
|
E-1
|
Deputy Assistant Under-Secretary
|
Deputy Director
|
Ambaatyne Captain
|
Supervisory Management | |||
M-4
|
Principal Executive Officer
|
Principal Executive Officer
|
First Secretary
|
M-3
|
Master Executive Officer
|
Master Executive Officer
|
Second Secretary
|
M-2
|
Leading Executive Officer
|
Leading Executive Officer
|
Third Secretary
|
M-1
|
Executive Staff Officer
|
Executive Staff Officer
|
Attache
|
Practitioners and Line Management | |||
P-3
|
Principal Staff Officer
|
Principal Staff Officer
|
Principal Legatine Officer
|
P-2
|
Leading Staff Officer
|
Leading Staff Officer
|
Leading Legatine Officer
|
P-1
|
Staff Officer
|
Staff Officer
|
Diplomatic Officer
|
P-1a
|
Staff Assistant
|
Staff Assistant
|
Diplomatic Assistant
|
P-1b
|
Junior Staff Assistant
|
Junior Staff Assistant
|
Junior Diplomatic Assistant
|
Adjutant Clerks' Independence Board
The Independence Board's role is regulating recruitment and promotion, and providing assurance that appointments are on merit after fair and open competition, and hears appeals under the Crown Adjutancy Regulations. The Board is independent of Government and the Corps, and the Principal Commissioner is appointed by the Crown Captain of Justiciars in agreement with the Leader of the Opposition and the outgoing Commissioner, before being confirmed by the Crown.
Special Advisors
Special Advisors are temporary civil servants appointed by, and paid by the Justiciar they are appointed by. Unlike the permanent Adjutant Clerks, they are political appointees whose loyalties are claimed by the governing party and often particular Justiciars with whom they have a close relationship. Examples of special advisors are the Chief of Staff, Director of Communications, and Press Secretary for the Captain of Justiciars, or the Political Secretaries of each Justiciary.
Provincial and Local Administration
At a provincial level each Governate directly employs its own staff as part of a separate and specific Provincial Secretariat. They act very similar to the Adjutant Clerks on a national level, however are employed directly by the Governate rather than being delegated satellite offices. Below Provinces, local authorities such as Borough Councils have many employees who carry out administrative and support functions for their elected officials. As local administrations get smaller and smaller, it will eventually reach the Parish level where the elected officials are unpaid, and the total staff may be a single full- or part-time Clerk of the Council.