Service of inspection

In France, a service of inspection or a body of inspection is a group of civils servant charged to make to inspections or studies within the ministries.

History

Preceding histories can be found with the system of body of inspection, including in the Ancien Mode, but the preference of controlling went rather to agents having a general capacity like the intendants or the Gouverneur S. The same applies during the French revolution where the representatives on mission contribute to the control of the operation of the local governments. But it is which creates the system of the specialized inspections, in particular with the inspection of the colleges created in 1802. Other inspections will follow modes progressively, in particular the General inspection of finances in 1816.

Organization

The various general inspections are called body of inspection when they constitute at the same time a body of the public office. The services of inspection which are not organized in the shape of a distinct body are composed civils servant concerned with other bodies and which are simply “operations managers of inspection”. The members of the services of inspection are often civils servant having begun their career in the active administration, i.e. of ground. They are thus people having certain track records in the field. However, three general inspections, the IGF, the IGAS and the IGA accommodate to a large extent of young civils servant at once after their exit of the National school of administration. The statute of the majority of the services of inspection authorizes the authorities having to be able of nomination to recruit people there having other profiles, including not-civils servant, by the system of the external Tour. Each inspection has at its head a person in charge, who takes the name of department head or Doyen. Principal interlocutor of the minister, the department head is charged to coordinate the activity of the inspectors. However, the latter write their reports/ratios under their own responsibility. All the inspections are placed under the direct authority of a minister, but are often placed at the disposal of other ministers. Three great inspections are interdepartmental: it is about the General inspection of finances (IGF), the General inspection of the social affairs (IGAS) and the General inspection of administration (IGA). It is also three more prestigious (selected in particular among the pupils best classified at the exit of the ENA).

Role

As their name indicates it, the services of inspection have as a main mission of inspecting, i.e. to supervise the administrations concerned with the ministry. They are seldom interested in the Central administration but more supervise the decentralized services and the public corporations. The inspectors make sure in particular of the good respect of the payment S, the instructions or the Norme S techniques. These inspections can lead to locate them dysfunctions and to draw the conclusions from them, sometimes to sanction, but also to propose a revision of the procedures or to suggest with the ministerial departments pointing out the rules to be followed. These traditional functions currently remain beside new missions. The services of inspection are thus often requested to be devoted to investigations into precise subjects in the whole of the territory, and to publish reports. They have a function of council as well near the services inspected as of the ministers and the services of central administration. The services of inspection often also have to take part in the staff management of the various ministries, either in recruitment (jurys of contest), or in the Formation, or in the management of the careers, by their presence in the Joint administrative Committees, or in the disciplinary proceedings. Under certain conditions, the general inspections can exert missions of council near ministries of other countries or international organizations.

Individually, the general inspectors can sit in various authorities like commissions, boards of directors of establishments or undertaken public. They can also reach functions of cabinet or stations of the central administration, or the head of important institutions, the national or international level.