Chapter 6-The Prime Minister And The Executive Flashcards
(38 cards)
What are the main institutions of the executive?
Prime minister
Cabinet
Ministers
Government departments
What is the Prime Minister?
The head of government and chair of the cabinet
What is the cabinet?
The committee of senior ministers which is the ultimate decision making body of the government
What is a government department?
An administrative unit of the executive that is usually responsible for a particular area of policy
What is a minister?
An MP or member of the House of Lords who is appointed to a specific position in the government by the prime minister
What are the executives core functions ?
- Making policy decisions, set political priorities and determine the country’s overall policy direction
- proposing legislation, executive devises and insisted legislation. Itself has law making powers on secondary legislation
- Proposing a budget, executive makes key decisions on economic policy and proposes a budget.
What are the powers of the executive?
Prerogative powers
Control of the legislative agenda
Powers of secondary legislation
What are do prerogative powers include ?
Making and ratifying treaties International diplomacy Deployment of the armed forces overseas The pms patronage powers and ability to recommend the dissolution of parliament Organisation of the civil service The granting of pardons
What’s the control of the legislative agenda?
It can limit debates on bills
Most bills made by government are approved by parliament and become law
PVM bills do not enjoy gov support are unlikely to succeed.
What are the powers of secondary legislation?
Also know as delegated legislation this a form which allows the provisions of an Act of Parliament to be brought into force or amended by ministers without requiring a further act.
What are the key functions of the Prime minister ?
Political leadership
National leadership
Appoint the government
Chairing the cabinet
Managing the executive, responsible for overall organisation of government and is head of the civil service
Prerogative powers managing relations with parliament, PM makes statements to and answers questions in the HoC + shapes legislative programme
Representing UK in international affairs
Two important aspects of the work of the Prime minister’s office are:
Policy advice, it provides the pm with policy advice which may differ from that given by ministers. Also help set future direction of government policy .PM appoint their own advisors The chief of staff being the most influential
Communications, responsible for the presentation of viv policy function has grown in importance with the intensification of the media focus on the PM
The main resources available to the prime minister are:
Patronage Authority within the cabinet system Policy making input Party leadership Public standing
What are patronage powers?
The power of an individual to appoint someone to an important position
What are the patronage powers the PM has ?
Power to anoint government ministers
Life peers
Cabinet reshuffles
How has the PMs patronage powers been curtailed?
The PM now plays no role in judicial appointments and is given only one name to approve for ecclesiastical appointments
The post of the Prime Minister comes with what specific authority within the core executive?
Chairs cabinet meetings
Manages the agenda of cabinet meets and determines their frequency and length
Directs and sums up cabinet discussions
Creates cabinet committee and appoints their members
Holds bilateral meetings with ministers
Appoints senior civil servants
Organises the structure of government
How does the prime minister agenda set?
- Controlling the information presented to minsters by determining which issues and papers should be brought before cabinet
- Keeping potentially difficult issues of cabinet agenda by dealing with them in a cabinet committee or in a bilateral meeting
- Deciding the chair, membership and remit of cabinet committees
How does policy-making input show how powerful a PM is?
- Have a license to get involved in issues across the political spectrum
- A PM with a strong interest in an issue can give it a central place in the government’s programme
How does partly leadership show how powerful a PM is?
The PM is the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, and a working majority in parliament strengthens their positions
because they can better enact the government’s programme
-increased backbench rebellion means PM can not always rely on party support
How does Public standing show how powerful a PM is?
PM is a high public profile provides political leadership at home at represents the UK in international affairs
- good public standing and popularity strengthens their position
What are the functions of the cabinet?
- Registering and ratifying decisions taken elsewhere in the cabinet system
- Discussing making decisions on major issues
- receiving reports on key developments and determining government business in parliament
- Settling disputes between government departments
The main business of the cabinet and cabinet committees concern?
- questions that engage collective responsibility of government because they raise major policy issues or are of critical importance
- Matters on which there is an unresolved dispute between government departments
When i the cabinets role the most significant?
- Issues are especially important or sensitive
- major or unexpected developments require a rapid decision
- gov departments and ministerial committees have failed to reach agreement
