The PM And The Executive- Proposing Legislation, Individual Ministerial Responsibilty

Question 1

The government engaged in consultation by…

Answer 1

by publishing a Green Paper, which sets out a possible course of action or a set of policies, so that MPs, peers and interested parties can make comments and suggest changes.

Question 2

Green paper

Answer 2

A consultation document (printed on green paper) produced by the government. The aim is to allow those inside and outside Parliament to give feedback on its policy or legislative proposals.

Question 3

What is published after a Green Paper ?

Answer 3

A White Paper is then published, which outlines the specific details of proposed legislation.

It is usually published about a year before the legislation is presented to Parliament. Parliament will normally debate the White Paper, and proposed changes may be considered.

Question 4

White paper

Answer 4

A policy document produced by the government that sets out specific proposals for future legislation. It may include a draft version of a bill that is being planned.

Question 5

What happens after the white paper is published ?

Answer 5

The party whips check that there is sufficient support for legislation among the governing party’s MPs.

Question 6

Post party whips what occurs in order to propose legislation ?

Answer 6

Legislation will then be formally introduced to Parliament.

Question 7

A large part of the work of the UK executive is taken up with the …?

Answer 7

Governments budget, the treasury.

Question 8

What does The Treasury do?

Answer 8

prepares an annual budget indicating levels of spending, taxes and borrowing.

The process also involves allocating funds to government departments, which is negotiated between the Treasury and individual department ministers and approved by cabinet. The House of Commons then has to approve the budget.

Question 9

Who leads The Treasury ?

Answer 9

led by the chancellor of the exchequer

Question 10

Individual ministerial responsibility is which type of convention?

Answer 10

Constitutional

Question 11

Individual ministerial responsibility

Answer 11

The principle that ministers are responsible for their personal conduct and for the work of their department.

Question 12

The 4 main elements of Individual Ministerial Responsibility :

Answer 12

1 Ministers must be prepared to be accountable to Parliament for the policies and decisions made by their department. They must answer questions in the House, give evidence before select committees and justify their actions in debate.

2 If a minister makes a serious error of judgement, they should be required to resign. In 2018 the home secretary, Amber Rudd, inadvertently misled Parliament over whether she knew about regional removal targets for illegal immigrants and was forced to resign.

3 If the minister’s department makes a serious eror, whether or not the minister was involved in the cause of the error, they are likewise bound to resign. Former education secretary Estelle Morris resigned in 2003 after a series of controversies relating to A-level standards and the failure of her department to meet the government’s own literacy and numeracy
standards.

4 If a minister’s conduct falls below the standards required of someone in public office, they should leave office and may face dismissal by the prime minister. Defence secretary Michael Fallon resigned in October 2017 after revelations of inappropriate behaviour towards women.

Question 13

Limits to Individual Ministerial Responsibility

The conventions of IMR has been eroded in recent years:

Answer 13

+ Increasingly, ministers are not taking responsibility for either policy failures of their departments or for their own errors of political judgement.

+ In some instances, ministers are no longer taking responsibility for failings in their personal conduct.

Question 14

Types of failure

Answer 14

If a minister makes a serious error, they should resign.

Ministers should accept responsibility for errors or poor performance by their departments.

If a minister’s personal conduct falls short of what is expected of an elected official, they should leave office.

Question 15

The erosion of IMR

Example of a minister failing to accept responsibility

• if a minister makes a serious error, they should resign

Answer 15

In 2020 education secretary Gavin Williamson approved an Ofqual algorithm that downgraded A-level results for thousands of students. The policy was eventually reversed, but the education secretary stayed in post.

Question 16

The erosion of IMR

Example of a minister failing to accept responsibility

Ministers should accept responsibility for errors or poor performance by their departments.

Answer 16

In 2019 transport secretary Chris Grayling did not resign after his department awarded a ferry contract for cross-Channel transport in the event of a no-deal Brexit, even though the company that was awarded the contract owned no ferries.

Question 17

The erosion of IMR

Example of a minister failing to accept responsibility

If a minister’s personal conduct falls short of what is expected of an elected official, they should leave office.

Answer 17

In 2020 home secretary Priti Patel refused to resign over a Cabinet Office inquiry that uncovered evidence of her bullying civil servants.

Question 18

The erosion of IMR occurred for 2 main reasons:

Answer 18

First, ministerial resignations can make the government look weak and so the government may try to ride out the storm’ instead.

Second, ministers may have shown loyalty to the prime minister and therefore expect a degree of support in return when things go wrong. If the consequence of this is that they are less likely to be sacked, they will feel less pressure to ‘jump before they are pushed’.