Chapter 3: PM & Executive Flashcards
(29 cards)
Executive
- Collective group of PM, Cabinet and junior ministers; the Government
- decision making body
Cabinet
- Main collective decision-making body in the Gov
- 20-23 senior minister + PM who chairs it
- Some senior figures are not part of the Cabinet but attend weekly meetings: Minister without Portfolio xxx, Attorney General xxx
- Administrative support delivered by the Cabinet Office headed by the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case
- Many decisions taken by Cabinet Committees: National Security Council, Home Affairs Committee etc
Minister
- An MP or peer appointed to a position in the government
- Ministers of state senior to parliamentary under secretaries of state
Government department
- Part of the executive, usually with specific responsibility over an area
- Headed by Cabinet ministers supported by several junior ministers
- There are currently 24 ministerial departments, 20 non-ministerial departments, and 422 agencies and other public bodies, for a total of 465 departments
Department for Education (DfE)
- Secretary of State: Bridget Phillipson
- Minister of State: xxx
- Parliamentary under secretary: xxx.
- Permanent Secretary: Susan Acland-Hood
Royal prerogative
- Set of powers and privileges belonging to the monarch but normally exercised by the PM or Cabinet
- Declare war, make treaties, grant passports, grant legal pardons, appoint ministers etc.
- Since 2003 + Syria 2013, military action usually has Parliamentary approval by convention
- FTPA 2011 removed PM’s right to determine date of GE. Repealed by Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022
Secondary legislation
- Laws made without a new Act of Parliament
- Powers given to the Executive by Parliament to make changes to the law within certain specific rules
- Statutory instruments: Gov can modify or repeal existing legislation without new bill - In 2016 statutory instruments were used to allow fracking in national parks - Henry VIII clauses
Individual responsibility
- Principle by which ministers are responsible for their personal conduct and for their departments
- seeks to guarantee that an elected official is motivated to closely scrutinize all activities within their department
- The convention assumes that the minister approved the hiring and continued employment of civil servants in their department
- In return, the government can claim credit for any of their departments’ successes, even if they had nothing to do with them, and civil servants shouldn’t claim credit for them
- There is no formal mechanism for enforcing it, meaning that today ministers frequently use ignorance of misbehaviour as an argument for lack of culpability
- Charles Clarke foreign prisoners issue April 2006
Collective responsibility
- Principle by which ministers must support Cabinet decisions or leave the Executive
- Robin Cook 2003 due to the Iraq War.
- Exceptions were the two referendums on EU
Executive agencies
- Part of gov department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate
- Semi independent bodies
- distinct from NMGDs and quangos
- DVLA
- HMPS
- ## Debt Management Office (DMO)
What is a permanent secretary
- the most senior civil servant in a department or ministry charged with running the day-to-day activities.
- non-political civil service , who generally hold their position for a number of years, distinct from the changing political secretaries of state to whom they report to
- frequently called for questioning by the Public Accounts Committee and select committees HoC
- Treasury one is generally regarded as the second most influential in the British Civil Service; two recent incumbents have gone on to be Cabinet Secretary, the only post outranking it.
Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS)
MP who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the minister in HoC
- Junior to Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State
- PPS to the Chancellor is xxx
- role is seen as a starting point for many MPs who aspire to become ministers themselves
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government
e.g. HM Treasury has
- Economic Secretary to the Treasury
- Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
First Lord of the Treasury
head of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom.
- Constitutional convention holds that the office of First Lord is held by the Prime Minister.
- The Chancellor is the second lord of the Treasury.
- The letter-box on the front door of 10 Downing Street, is inscribed with “First Lord of the Treasury”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
- the second most senior ministerial office in HM Treasury, after the Chancellor
- Currently xxx
- shadowed by the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury (currently xxx)
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
is not a Treasury minister but the government whip in the House of Commons. The office can be seen as a sinecure, allowing the Chief Whip to draw a government salary, attend Cabinet, and use a Downing Street residence.
Treasury department structure
Permanent Secretary: xxx
Chief Secretary: xxx
PPS to Chancellor: xxx
The payroll vote
Under collective responsibility, there is a built-in bloc of guaranteed support for the Government on any given parliamentary vote (any MP who holds a Gov position).
- The size of this bloc is substantial and has been increasing over time. Immediately after the 2005 general election, there were 89 ministers and 51 parliamentary private secretaries in the Commons, accounting for 40% of Labour MPs.
‘Politicisation’ of the Civil Service?
- On 8 September 2022 Tom Scholar was removed from his position as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury by Truss and Kwarteng
- In February 2020 Sir Philip Rutnam left his position as Home Office permanent secretary after allegations of bullying were raised against Priti Patel
- in August 2020, Jonathan Slater, permanent secretary to the DoE, was seemingly scapegoated and removed following a political row relating to the use of an algorithm to generate A-level and GCSE results.
- In May 2021 Dominic Cummings claimed that he had personally appointed Cabinet Secretary Simon Case
The Maude Review
“the arrangements for governance and accountability of the civil service are unclear, opaque and incomplete”. There is “no organised scrutiny of the way the Civil Service is managed” and it is too hard to tell whether it is delivering on its obligations. The lack of external pressure to maintain and enhance capability is a problem, and the civil service too often has “a built-in resistance to change”.
The Maude Review background
- By Lord Maude, a former Cabinet Office minister
- Commissioned in July 2022 and published in November 2023
- Commissioned by Jacob Rees-Mogg, then minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency
Weakness of the centre in UK government
“The demands placed upon the centre of government - Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury - have expanded massively in the last 100 years, yet its basic shape and division of functions has remained broadly unchanged.” - The Maude Report
Principal recommendations of the Maude Review
- Establish a clear and transparent scheme for the PM’s delegation of statutory power to manage the Civil Service.
- Ensure the Head of the Civil Service (HoCS) is a dedicated, full-time role, empowered by the PM to lead Civil Service reforms.
- Expand the role of the Civil Service Commission
- Reorganize Gov to create an Office of PM and Cabinet as the strategic hub, an Office of Budget and Management (OBM) for real-time expenditure accountability, and maintain HM Treasury’s economic and fiscal policy role.
- Review civil service appointment procedures to allow ministers greater involvement while ensuring political impartiality
