administrative law

Question 1

what is administrative law?

Answer 1

the body of rules governing the control and usage of public/state power

Question 2

what is the purpose of administrative law?

Answer 2

to keep government bodies in check
to make sure they aren’t acting beyond the scope of their powers and to give people a way to challenge government decisions and actions

Question 3

what is the importance of accountability?

Answer 3

democracy - accountability provides individuals with the information they need to assess who to vote for in an election
preventing corruption and abuses of power
enhancing the learning capacity of government

Question 4

what are the two approaches within administrative law?

Answer 4

legal accountability

political accountability

Question 5

what is legal accountability?

Answer 5

the idea of using legal mechanisms to hold the government to account for its own actions - judicial review, tribunals and ombudsmen

Question 6

what is political accountability?

Answer 6

using political mechanisms to hold the government to account for its actions - constitutional conventions, parliamentary questions, parliamentary debates and parliamentary enquiries

Question 7

what are the constitutional conventions that are significant in holding the government politically accountable

Answer 7

collective ministerial responsibility

individual ministerial responsibility

Question 8

what does collective ministerial responsibility hold?

Answer 8

any government ministers must publicly support and promote government policy
can disagree in private
if a minister feels they can’t do this they must resign or face being sacked
maintaining a united front is important in ensuring there is effective accountability to parliament

Question 9

what does individual ministerial responsibility hold?

Answer 9

ministers are personally responsible to parliament for what happens in their departments and their own personal conduct
if their department performs poorly or the minister’s behaviour falls below what is expected of someone holding the position of government minister, then the rule will be deemed to have been broken
if the rule is broken the minister will be expected to resign or face being sacked