Ministerial Responsibility and the Civil Service

Question 1

Is ministerial responsibility a convention or statutory regime?

Answer 1

Constitutional convention.

Question 2

What are the two types of ministerial responsibility.

Answer 2

Collective and individual.

Question 3

What are the three limbs of collective responsibility?

Answer 3

1. Confidence
2. Unanimity
3. Confidentiality

Question 4

Describe confidence.

Answer 4

Old perception: Originally required a gov’t must resign if it couldn’t command majority Commons support—the rule applied if a gov’t was defeated on a major policy issue

New perception: gov’t resigns if defeated on an explicit no-confidence motion

Question 5

Justify the change in attitude towards confidence. (3).

Answer 5

• Governments are normally not elected because of their policy on a single issue, but because of the overall package of policies they offer
• Government’s failure to command majority on a single issue does not mean that it cannot do so in other areas
• Defeat in an explicit no-confidence motion, however, means Commons has lost its confidence in the Gov’t competence

Question 6

Describe unanimity.

Answer 6

Requires all Ministers to offer public support for all Cabinet decisions, even if a Minister opposed the policy concerned in Cabinet

Question 7

Describe a notable features of unanimity. (2).

Answer 7

• Ministers who find a particular policy unacceptable should resign from office
• Assumption that ministerial differences of opinion have been voiced in Cabinet

Question 8

What are the three methods of testing whether the rule of unanimity has the status of a constitutional convention?

Answer 8

• Where a Minister strongly disagrees with a policy and voices dissent in Cabinet, but does not disclose this publicly – yet, we won’t know this until Cabinet papers are published (currently embargoed for 30 years)
• Where disagreement in Cabinet led to resignation or dismissal of Ministers
• Where there was public disagreement between Ministers but everyone involved stayed in office – this would disprove the rule’s status as a convention

Question 9

Name two circumstances in which collective solidarity has been suspended.

Answer 9

1. Whether to join the EU
2. Whether to leave the EU
3. Assisted dying bill

Question 10

Describe confidentiality.

Answer 10

• All Ministers owe each other a duty of confidentiality – they should not reveal how colleagues argued or voted in particular disputes

Question 11

Which case highlights the rule of confidentiality?

Answer 11

The Crossman Diaries Case

Question 12

What are the two components of individual ministerial responsibility?

Answer 12

Personal conduct and the work of ministers and their departments

Question 13

What are the three key features of the Ministerial Code?

Answer 13

1. Ministers must maintain a high standard of behaviour
2. Ministers must embody the values of public service
3. Ministers, ultimately, are responsible for their own conduct, and are accountable to the Prime Minister

Question 14

Describe the events of the Profumo Affair (1963).

Answer 14

• Secretary of State for War lied to Parliament about having an extramarital affair with a model with Soviet links

Question 15

What was the consequence of the Profumo affair?

Answer 15

Undermined confidence in the government.

Question 16

Provide examples of recent poor personal conduct.

Answer 16

• Matt Hancock’s extramarital affair and failure to comply with COVID guidelines.
• Priti Patel’s bullying allegations.

Question 17

Describe the events of Priti Patel’s bullying scandal.

Answer 17

• Accused of bullying civil servants.
• Then Prime Minister refused to dismiss the Secretary of State
• PM’s ethics advisor, who had prepared the report, resigned.

Question 18

Describe the events of the Windrush scandal.

Answer 18

• Members of the Windrush generation who were legally entitled to be in the UK, but couldn’t present the documentation were detained for deportation.
• Amber Rudd said there were no targets
• Later revealed that there were

Question 19

Describe the events of the Adams case and how it highlights how Ministers are responsible for their work and department

Answer 19

• Adams detained under an Interim Custody Order (ICO)
• ICO requires signature by the Secretary of State, or by a Junior Minister
• Adams tried to escape twice
• Later pleaded that because the ICO was invalid he was therefore being unlawfully detained, thereby could not be considered guilty for trying to escape
• Court found that the failure of the Secretary of State to sign the order meant the ICO was invalid.
• However this had detrimental consequences for the Carlatona principle.

Question 20

Generally, what the twofold features of ministerial responsibility (Not collective and individual).

Answer 20

Ministers must provide an account of decisions.

Ministers must be prepared to defend their decisions and policy.

Question 21

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested that ministerial responsibility was nothing more than what?

Answer 21

A paper tiger.

Question 22

What are the four circumstances under which a minister may choose to resign.

Answer 22

1. Poor personal conduct - Partygate
2. Conflict of interest - David Blunkett
3. Policy failure - Liz Truss’s mini budget
4. Administrative failure - Charlie Clarke

Question 23

What are the two contrasting interpretations of ministerial responsibility.

Answer 23

• The Westminster view
• The Whitehall view

Question 24

Briefly describe the Westminster interpretation of ministerial responsibility.

Answer 24

Ministers derive their mandate from Parliament, therefore are ultimately accountable to Parliament.

Question 25

Briefly describe the Whitehall interpretation of ministerial responsibility.

Answer 25

Ministerial responsibility in practice is a shield against Parliament. Ministers must act upon initiative, and as spokespeople for government.

Question 26

Which interpretation of ministerial responsibility is predominant among commentators?

Answer 26

The Whitehall view.

Question 27

Why in practice does Parliament not hold individual ministers to account.

Answer 27

Opposition more inclined to attack the government as a homogenous entity to undermine public confidence in the government.

Question 28

The Carltona principle is primarily a method of 'passing the buck' onto someone else. (T/F)

Answer 28

False. Ministers are unlikely to take blame for a decision that they weren't directly involved in.

Question 29

Who suggested that the civi service in practice do hold immense power, able to delay the implementation of policy to such an extent that ministers simply forget about it.

Answer 29

Margaret Hodge MP - Labour.

Question 30

What did Margaret Hodge MP say about ministerial responsibility.

Answer 30

The old doctrine of ministerial responsibility is not fit for the 21st century.

Question 31

What have many suggested be done about the lack of accountability of the civil service?

Answer 31

Make civil servants accountable to Parliament, however opponents have suggested that this would only serve to politicise the civil service.

Question 32

Provide an instance in which the government acted without a democratic or parliamentary mandate and were subsequently held to account for the merits of their decision making.

Answer 32

2008 financial crash and government bail outs. COVID.