Structure, Role and Powers of the Executive

Question 1

what are the executive powers of the PM/

Answer 1

• Head of cabinet meetings and its agenda
• A PM selects their own cabinet
• decides who sits on cabinet committees
• can create new departments e.g., department for exiting the EU) and merge them

Question 2

what are the features of the cabinet?

Answer 2

• made up of 20-23 senior ministers and makes decisions on key areas of policy
• has collective responsibility - all ministers must defend cabinet decisions
• can vote out the PM with a cabinet vote

Question 3

what is the proposing legislation role of the executive?

Answer 3

• most bills in parliament are public bills, meaning they come from the executive
• the executive can also use secondary legislation to develop policies

Question 4

what is the proposing budget role of the executive?

Answer 4

• the chancellor sets out a budget every year
• the 2020 budget included a freeze on income tax bands, £5bn emergency response fund for NHS and other public services and scrapping the tampon tax

Question 5

what is the making policy decisions role of the executive?

Answer 5

• they set the direction of the country
• this includes things such as welfare reform, reform of education system (changes to A levels), changes to NHS
• the day to day decisions e.g., deciding the road map and response to the COVID crisis

Question 6

what are the prerogative powers of the executive?

Answer 6

• appointing ministers
• granting legal pardons
• signing treaties
• declare war and using armed forces (although this is expected to be approved by parliament)
• award honours
• take emergency action at times of crisis

Question 7

what is the initiation of legislation role?

Answer 7

• the executive dominates parliamentary time (13 days for private member bills, 20 for opposition days, all the rest are controlled by govt)
• with a majority, the govt can be confident of passing the legislation it wants

Question 8

what is the secondary legislative power?

Answer 8

• laws made without passing a new Act of parliament
• normally done by using statutory instruments to modify existing legislation
• can be highly controversial e.g., 2016 abolishing maintenance grants for Uni
• are seen by some as a way of avoiding parliamentary scrutiny
• about 2/3 of secondary legislation become law without being debated by MPs