Chapter 3: PM & Executive

Question 1

Executive

Answer 1

• Collective group of PM, Cabinet and junior ministers; the Government
• decision making body

Question 2

Cabinet

Answer 2

• 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 Greg Hands, Attorney General Victoria Prentis
• 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

Question 3

Minister

Answer 3

• An MP or peer appointed to a position in the government
• Ministers of state senior to parliamentary under secretaries of state

Question 4

Government department

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

Department for Education (DfE)

Answer 5

• Secretary of State: Gillian Keegan
• Minister of State: Nick Gibb
• Parliamentary under secretary: Baroness Barran.
• Permanent Secretary: Susan Acland-Hood

Question 6

Royal prerogative

Answer 6

• 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 Repealed by Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022

Question 7

Secondary legislation

Answer 7

• 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

Question 9

Individual responsibility

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

Collective responsibility

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

Executive agencies

Answer 11

• 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)

Question 12

What is a permanent secretary

Answer 12

• 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.

Question 13

Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS)

Answer 13

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 Gareth Davies
- role is seen as a starting point for many MPs who aspire to become ministers themselves

Question 14

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State

Answer 14

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

Question 15

First Lord of the Treasury

Answer 15

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”

Question 16

Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Answer 16

• the second most senior ministerial office in HM Treasury, after the Chancellor
• Currently Laura Trott
• shadowed by the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury (currently Darren Jones)

Question 17

Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Treasury department structure

Answer 18

Permanent Secretary: James Bower
Chief Secretary: Laura Trott
PPS to Chancellor: Gareth Davies

Question 19

The payroll vote

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

‘Politicisation’ of the Civil Service?

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

The Maude Review

Answer 21

“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”.

Question 22

The Maude Review background

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

Weakness of the centre in UK government

Answer 23

“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

Question 24

Principal recommendations of the Maude Review

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

Problems with the Treasury: Issues with Tight Control over Spending

Answer 25

• Treasury exercises tight control over departmental spending, causing friction.
• Lengthy negotiations required for minor reallocations of funds, slowing down other programs.
• Treasury’s micromanagement stifles innovation and savings initiatives within spending departments.
• Lack of scrutiny on the chancellor’s own priorities, such as the “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme.
• Treasury control diminishes incentives for departments to innovate or find savings.

Question 26

What does Stian Westlake propose about the Treasury

Answer 26

splitting Treasury’s responsibilities for growth, spending, and finance.

Question 27

International comparisons of the structure of the Treasury

Answer 27

it is three things at once: a budgetary ministry, controlling government expenditure; a financial ministry, responsible for public credit and taxation; and an economics ministry, with a brief to stimulate economic growth. In France, Germany, the US, Japan, Canada and Australia these roles are all, in differing ways, separated out.

Question 28

Cabinet committees

Answer 28

• groups of ministers that can “take collective decisions that are binding across government”
• As of February 2024, there are five cabinet committees and six sub-committees
• the ‘engine-room of government’
• Can be transient: Theresa May established several Brexit-related cabinet committees, while Boris Johnson introduced two Covid-19 committees
• In February 2024, women held 29% of cabinet committee places

Question 29

The Five Cabinet Committees

Answer 29

• The National Security Council (NSC), which has four sub-committees, covering nuclear, Europe, resilience, and economic security
• The National Science and Technology Council
• The Domestic and Economic Affairs committee (DEA), which contains two sub-committees – on the union and energy, climate and net zero
• The Parliamentary Business and Legislation committee (PBL)
• The Home Affairs Committee (HAC)