LS7: Executive power

Question 1

Who is included in ‘The Executive’?

Answer 1

○ Prime Minister
○ Cabinet
○ Also Non-Cabinet ministers
○ Civil Service
- Other bodies that are concerned with implementing government policy

Question 2

What is a hung Parliament?

Answer 2

Where there is no overall majority. The PM will stay in office until they can establish whether they can command the support of the HoC.

Question 3

What are the duties of a Prime Minister?

Answer 3

○ Form a government + preside over Cabinet
○ Making appointments to ministerial office
○ Allocation of the tasks of government to various departments
○ Presiding over Cabinet meetings
○ Representing the government in Parliament
○ Leading the party and keeping control via government whips
○ Keeping monarch informed with weekly audience
○ Supervising security and intelligence matters
○ Making or recommending appointments, including life peers and top civil servants.

Question 4

What is the Cabinet?

Answer 4

The Cabinet is made up of the Prime Minister and up to 23 other senior ministers appointed by the King on the advice of the Prime Minister.

The Cabinet runs the country; it decides where major policy decisions and controls the legislative agenda of Parliament.

Question 5

What does the Cabinet require in Parliament?

Answer 5

A majority to support them - they are therefore accountable to Parliament.

Question 6

Which 3 ministers are always included in the Cabinet?

Answer 6

Home Secretary
Foreign Secretary
Chancellor of the Exchequer

Question 7

Give an example of a group of non-Cabinet ministers that may attend Cabinet meetings on particular matters?

Answer 7

The Law Officers of the Crown

Question 8

By convention, a Cabinet member must be drawn from where?

Answer 8

The House of Commons or the House of Lords (unless seeking election at a by-election or is a life peer)

Question 9

What is a Minister of the Crown?

Answer 9

A member of the majority party in government, appointed by the Crown on advice of the PM, who holds political office in the government.

They can be:
Cabinet Minister
Secretary of State (major department head)

Junior Ministers:
Minister of State (can hold less important department head position)
Parliamentary Undersecretary of State (assist with parliamentary work and administrative responsibility)

Question 10

Who assists Secretaries of State?

Answer 10

Secretaries of State will be assisted by Ministers of State and Parliamentary Undersecretaries of State, as well as Parliamentary Private Secretaries (MPs or Lord who aren’t paid extra for the work)

Question 11

Who assists a Minister of State?

Answer 11

Where a departmental head is a Minister of State, they will be assisted by Parliamentary Undersecretaries of State as well as Parliamentary Private Secretaries (MPs or Lord who aren’t paid extra for the work)

Question 12

If an PM appoints a minister from outside Parliament, what do they need in order that their functions be fulfilled?

Answer 12

A life peerage.

Question 13

Are Ministers civil servants?

Answer 13

No, they are Crown servants, not civil servants.

Question 14

Are Judges civil servants?

Answer 14

No, to protect their independence.

Question 15

What is the role of a senior civil servant?

Answer 15

Senior civil servants advise minsters on policy options, provide them with information (for questions in Parliament) and brief them on how to deal with the media.

Question 16

What is the rule for civil servants to behave with Ministers?

Answer 16

With positive neutrality, civil servants need to be trusted by individual ministers and vice versa.

Question 17

If a civil servant makes a mistake, will they be sued?

Answer 17

No, the Minister will be sued instead.

Question 18

Who is the Minister for the Civil Service?

Answer 18

The Minister for the Civil Service is the Prime Minster, although the PM is not the HEAD of the Civil Service, it is the Cabinet Secretary. They control the day-to-day conduct of the service, although in practice much of the administration is done by the Civil Service Department.

Question 19

Are civil servants officers of the Crown?

Answer 19

Yes, they are governed by Orders in Council made by prerogative powers and by regulations issued by the Civil Service Department.

Question 20

Under Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRGA 2010), what is the Minister for the Civil Service is responsible for?

Answer 20

The Minister for the Civil Service is responsible under CRGA 2010 for creating a Civil Service Code, Diplomatic Service Code and a Special Advisers’ Code.

Question 21

What are public corporations?

Answer 21

Bodies established by central government, but are legally separate from it, in order to carry out a particular task.

Usually created via an Act of Parliament, but other methods are used (e.g. Royal Charter for BBC).

Idea is that it is free from government control, yet it retains control in the public interest.

Question 22

What is an executive agency?

Answer 22

A public institution that delivers government services for the UK and for its individual countries.

E.g. Jobcentre Plus is part of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Headed by a chief executive, directly accountable to the responsible minister, who is accountable to Parliament.

Question 23

What are quangos?

Answer 23

Acronym for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations.

Also referred to as non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs).

Although ministers have key powers of appointment for the board of quangos, in theory, they operate independently of government.

Question 24

What is the Royal Prerogative?

Answer 24

The Crown’s residual powers, mainly exercised by government Ministers today.

Question 25

What are the prerogative powers in the legislature?

Answer 25

To summon, prorogue (suspend) or dissolve Parliament.

To grant Royal Assent to legislation

To legislate by Order in Council

Question 26

What are the prerogative powers in the executive?

Answer 26

Appointing and dismissing a Prime Minister and Cabinet

Conferring on honours

Take emergency action at times of emergency

Declaration of war

Deployment of armed forces

Ratification of international treaties

Grant of refusal of passport

Question 27

What are the prerogative powers in the judiciary?

Answer 27

Legal system operates in the name of the Crown (R v means Rex)

Appointing of judges

Granting a pardon for criminal offences

Monarch is immune from prosecution

Question 28

WHo exercises the prerogative powers?

Answer 28

Most of the powers have been transferred to government ministers, e.g. Secretary of State for Justice who exercises the prerogative for mercy, or Justice to ratify treaties.

Monarch does still retain some personal prerogative powers, e.g. appointing the PM and Cabinet, summoning Parliament, although these are heavily influenced by convention.

Question 29

Why can prerogative powers be ruled over by statute?

Answer 29

Because they are derived from common law and like any other common law, the will ultimately be overruled or displaced by statute.

Question 30

Where a statute and prerogative power clash, which will prevail?

Answer 30

Statutory power will prevail, in recognition of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty.

Question 31

What scrutinises prerogative powers exercised by the executive?

Answer 31

Judicial review - they will be scrutinised on the usual grounds of illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety.

However, some prerogative powers are regarded as not ‘justiciable, meaning they can’t be judged by a court of law. E.g. international treaties, defence, etc.

Question 32

What does non-justiciable mean?

Answer 32

When prerogative powers are non-justiciable, it means that they can’t be judged by a court of law.

Examples include:

• International treaties
• Defence
• Declaring war
• National Security
• Mercy
• Honours
• The dissolution of Parliament
• The appointment of ministers

Question 33

Which two constitutional conventions and two checks and balances keep the executive held to account?

Answer 33

Individual ministerial responsibility
Collective cabinet responsibility

Ministerial Code
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Question 34

What are the two aspects of collective cabinet responsibility?

Answer 34

Cabinet solidarity: once a decision is made, all Cabinet ministers are bound to it and must defend and not criticise it. If they disagree, they must resign from the Cabinet.

Cabinet confidentiality: anything discussed in Cabinet meetings stay private, to promote candid and open discussion. Sometimes leaks do happen.

Question 35

What is individual ministerial responsibility?

Answer 35

This means that a minister will be personally responsible and accountable for the actions and conduct of their departments.

Ministers must defend decision made in their name in Parliament and defend departmental policy within the House. Ministers may have to defend themselves before a select committee.

Question 36

What are ministers accountable for?

Answer 36

Ministers are accountable for their department and civil servants, but aren’t responsible for all wrongdoing by a civil servant.

Minister will be responsible:
○ When the civil servant has carried out the minister’s explicit order
○ When the civil servant acts in accordance with policy laid down by the minister
○ When the civil servant makes a mistake or causes a delay.

The minister is not responsible when the civil servant takes action of which the minster was not aware and could not have been aware and of which the minister disapproves.

Question 37

Which three mechanisms hold ministers to account?

Answer 37

• Select Committees
• Parliamentary questions
• Debates

Question 38

What is the Ministerial Code?

Answer 38

Conventions are supplemented by the written rules of behaviour set out in the Ministerial Code, most recent version is 2019.

Code is not legally binding, but a breach expects a resignation. The decision sits with PM, who will figure out what is more politically convenient.

Question 39

Apart from individual and collective responsibility, what are the other key principles of the Ministerial Code?

Answer 39

• Be accurate and truthful to Parliament, do not mislead.
• Disclose info to Parliament and public as possible, subject to public interest and relevant law.
• Financial interest, avoid acting in favour of themselves or close associates.
• Gift, official cars and publicly funded travel must be closely monitored.

Question 40

Who is Ministerial Code enforced by?

Answer 40

The Independent Advisor on Ministers’ Interest, who investigates complaints about ministers’ behaviour.

They are appointment by the PM.

Question 41

What is the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) function?

Answer 41

Function: to safeguard citizens against the abuse or misuse of administrative power.

To investigate complaints by individuals and bodies corporate who claim to have sustained injustice in consequence of maladministration…

The PHSO is permitted only to investigate maladministration, not the merits of a decision (s12 PCA 1967).

Question 42

What is the Crossman Catalogue?

Answer 42

A government minister, Richard Crossman, defined maladministration in a statement known as the “Crossman Catalogue” as bias, neglect, inattention, delay, incompetence, ineptitude, perversity, turpitude, arbitrariness and so on, and this definition was accepted in Local Commissioner for Administration, ex parte Bradford Metropolitan City Council [1979].

Question 43

What can a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) do when they’ve discovered a maladministration?

Answer 43

PHSO cannot:

○ Award compensation, but can recommend ex gratia payments

○ Order a governmental department to take corrective action, but can recommend steps that should be taken to improve procedures.

If PHSO’s recommendations are not accepted, the sanction is a special report to the Houses of Parliament.