Government Organisations in the Commonwealth

Part of the government series of articles.

Every organisation of the federal government in the Commonwealth belongs to a ministry or a ministerial parliament, called its parent. The parent pays for the organisation and answers for it, either to the Mandatory Ecclesia or to its own chamber, and the organisation’s accounts are certified by the Commonwealth Accounts Service like those of any other part of government. There are seven kinds of relationship between an organisation and its parent, listed below, and each gives the parent a different degree of control.

A bureau or a service is never a parent, but an organisation can be attached to a bureau or council for day-to-day supervision. The Commonwealth Olympic Committee is a recognised body of the Ministry of Culture attached to the Bureau of Sports. The research establishments of several ministries are attached to SIRO. Attachment can be changed by the parent without altering the organisation itself. The senior posts of every organisation except a recognised body are filled from the services, whose officers are posted or deputed to them and remain members of their service.

Relationships #

• Bureau – a statutory department of its parent, led by a Director and divided into departments and offices. The parent sets its policy and standards.
• Establishment – an institution, field body or force run directly by its parent, with no governing council of its own. The parent appoints its head and directs its work.
• Constituent – a body with its own governing council, which sets its programme within a grant and a mandate from its parent. The parent appoints part of the council and approves its budget, and does not direct its work.
• Statutory authority – a body constituted by its own Act, which defines its powers. The parent funds it and appoints its head, and may direct it only as the Act allows.
• Independent body – a body attached to its parent for funding and administration, which takes no direction from it. Its head is confirmed by the Mandatory Ecclesia.
• Public corporation – a government enterprise keeping commercial accounts, with an executive council answering to its parent.
• Recognised body – an organisation outside government, recognised by its parent as the representative of a field and often funded by it. Its members and officers are not civil servants.

Establishments are the most numerous and varied of the seven. They include the national institutions such as the National Library and the Atlantic History Federation, the schools and colleges of government, the research establishments of SIRO and the establishments and formations of the Commonwealth Armed Forces. Many organisations with Service in their name, such as the Civil Defence Service and the Commonwealth Corrections Service, are establishments, and are not services of officers.

Constituents generally hold a field of public life that their parent funds but does not run, and the best known are the arts bodies, the Atlantic Arts Federation and the Commonwealth Art Commission. Statutory authorities are mostly regulators and emergency bodies, whose powers over people and industry are fixed in law. Independent bodies are few, and include the Constitutional Tribunal, the Commonwealth Electoral Commission, the Commonwealth Prosecution Service and the Federal Inspectorate, and each of them supervises or judges part of the government that pays for it.

Bureaus also have constituents of their own, usually boards, registries and colleges, and each bureau’s page lists them. Interwork Detachments have no parent at all. They are formed and dissolved by agreement between the departments that staff them.

Organisations by relationship

Establishments: Atlantic History Federation, National Library, Commonwealth Central Archives, Civil Defence Service, Control Establishment, Defence Imagery Establishment, Defence Industrial Establishment, Federal Materiel Establishment, Federal Ordnance Establishment, Fires Establishment, Manoeuvres Establishment, Signals Establishment, Supply Establishment, Territorial Service, Noshem, DSRE, CSRE, LSRE, NSRE, ASRE, MSRE, Commonwealth Laboratories, Transport Laboratories, Commonwealth School of Public Service, Commonwealth Corrections Service, Commonwealth Register, Commonwealth Foreign School, Commonwealth Consular School, Common Navy, Commonwealth Levy

Constituents: Atlantic Arts Federation, Commonwealth Art Commission, Defence Home Commission, SIRO, Commonwealth Volunteer Service, Commonwealth Industrial Congress, Commonwealth International Aid Commission

Statutory authorities: Commonwealth Communications Authority, Emergency Light and Water Authority, Curriculum and Qualifications Council, Commonwealth Disease Commission, Health Sciences Authority

Independent bodies: Constitutional Tribunal, Commonwealth Electoral Commission, Commonwealth Prosecution Service, Federal Inspectorate, Health Democracy Commission

Public corporations: Commonwealth Mint, Commonwealth Securities Exchange, Housing Commission, Transport Commission, Commonwealth Public Press

Recognised bodies: Commonwealth Olympic Committee, Commonwealth Law Society, Commonwealth Medical Association, Commonwealth Religions Congress, National Education Forum, Atlantic National Labour Federation, Commonwealth Trades Congress