Stereotypes that civil servants live an easy nine to five life are common ? and it?s a view that Mr. Drinkwater confessed he once held himself until a rude awakening.

But he said his 23 years in the civil service have seen rising levels of commitment ? not that it ever was a place for slackers.

He recalled turning up at 8.30 a.m. on his first day in the job in 1983 and assuming he would be the first in.

?I was the last one in. That was when I first began to realise it was a lot more efficient organisation than I had anticipated,? he said.

?I would like to dispel the myth that civil servants wander into work at 8.30 and leave at five. That simply isn?t true.

?I don?t think I ever got home before 7 p.m. and very often it was after that.?

He said his colleague Kenneth Dill, who is now Head of the Civil Service, would often work till three or four in the morning writing up Cabinet minutes while former Cabinet Secretary Leo Mills frequently worked through the night.

?I used to work consistently at the weekend ? go in for several hours when it was quiet.

?I would e-mail Permanent Secretaries and heads of departments and invariably receive e-mails back from them in their offices. A lot of people put in an awful lot of time.?

Mr. Drinkwater said the long hours were not a good thing and he noted the practice was being discouraged in the UK because it catches up on employees.

?It?s not true to say all civil servants are clock-watchers. I am sure some are but generally speaking they are extremely hard working and dedicated.?

He said the civil service needed to increases its PR efforts in order not to miss out on high-flyers and he said there were difficulties in attracting people to work in top levels of the civil service.

?We even have very competent department heads who have no desire to move upwards to become Permanent Secretaries.?

And Mr. Drinkwater said ministers were also burning the midnight oil ? at the beck and call of the public 24 hours a day.

?People would be amazed how much they are called at home, people visit their houses. I know because the ministers would the call me.

?I sometimes wonder why people want to be ministers. It places huge demands on them and affects their family life.

?(Dame) Jennifer Smith, on occasions, would work through the night and I could think of other ministers still at their desks at 11 p.m.

?I can recall on minister who insisted on being at his desk at 5.30 in the morning.?

The civil service now numbers just over 2,000 but Mr. Drinkwater does not believe there are too many, although he does understand the public?s fear about growing bureaucracy.

He said the workload had increased dramatically along with expectations.

?We don?t increase the size of the civil service without looking at things very carefully. It is not that easy to increase the size,? he said. ?It requires Cabinet approval to do so.

?We have recently done an exercise to eliminate posts that haven?t been filled for a specific time.?