CENTRALGOVERNMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Question 1

Although there is no defnitive list of powers of the Prime Minister,
practice and convention over time indicates that the Prime
Minister has the following powers.

Answer 1

1. Organisation of Government and Civil
   Service
2. Constitutional Role
3. Security and Intelligence Matters
4. Armed Forces
5. International Relations and Brexit

Question 2

Organisation of Government and Civil
Service

Answer 2

The Prime Minister has the power to change the organisation of government through abolishing, merging, or creating new government departments. In addition, the Prime Minister has overall responsibility for the Civil Service

Question 3

Constitutional Role

Answer 3

The Prime Minister is the primary constitutional adviser to
the Monarch. This involves meeting weekly with the Monarch and, occasionally, the Heir to the Throne, the Prince of Wales. The Prime Minister is also responsible for the overall relation-ship between the UK government and the devolved govern-ments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Question 4

GOVERNMENT MINISTERS

Answer 4

Following appointment by the Monarch, the Prime Minister
must form a government by appointing ministers to lead the
departments that make up central government. Formally, min-
isterial appointments are made by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, but in substance the power rests with
the Prime Minister. Senior ministers are those who form the
Cabinet, with junior ministers being all other ministers. There are a range of restraints on freedom of choice that the Prime Minister can make.
1.Conventional restrictions
2.political restrictions

Question 5

conventional restrictions
appointing ministers

Answer 5

By convention, ministers must have a seat in either the
House of Commons or the House of Lords.

Question 6

political restrictions
appointing ministers

Answer 6

The Prime Minister remains in of-fce only for so long as they retain the leadership of the party. This requires that Prime Ministers constantly ensure they
have the support of their MPs. In this way, the Prime Minister
is subject to some indirect control by their party.

Question 7

Composition of Cabinet

Answer 7

*The Prime Minister;
*Chancellor of the Exchequer;
*The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (the Chancellor’s
Deputy within the Treasury);
*Other Secretaries of State, who lead government depart-
ments;
*The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice;
*The Leader of the House of Commons (responsible for
getting the government’s ‘business’ through the House of
Commons);
*The Leader of the House of Lords (responsible for getting
the government’s ‘business’ through the House of Lords);
and
*The Chief Whip, responsible for maintaining the ‘disci-
pline’ of those MPs who are members of the party that
has formed the government. Discipline means ensuring
that these MPs and Members of the House of Lords vote
in favour of the government.

Question 8

Role of Cabinet

Answer 8

*Decisions to take military action;
*Determining the government’s legislative agenda, which
is set out in the King’s Speech each year;
*Issues of a constitutional nature, including the monarchy,
reform of Parliament, and changes to the structure of
devolution to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland;
*The most signifcant domestic policy matters;
*The most signifcant European or international afairs;
and
*National emergencies, including terrorism.

Question 9

Cabinet Committees

Answer 9

1. Below the main Cabinet sit Cabinet committees, which are
   subcommittees of the main Cabinet. All Cabinet committees
   are established by the Prime Minister, who also determines
   their membership. Usually a combination of Cabinet ministers and junior ministers sit on a Cabinet committee

2.Decisions made in a Cabinet commit-
tee have the same authority as a Cabinet decision.

Question 10

Ministers

Answer 10

Each government department is headed by the Secretary of State, who has overall responsibility for the department and
is accountable to Parliament for the activities and decisions
of the department. Below the Secretary of State are junior
ministers, who will each be responsible for an aspect of the
department’s work.

Question 11

functions of government departments

Answer 11

1. governing according to law and policy
2. developing new policy

Question 12

Governing According to Law and Policy

goverment departments

Answer 12

1. The legal authority for the department will stem either from the royal prerogative or from statutes. Acts of Parliament will usually confer powers on the Secretary of State.
2. The Carltona doctrine is the principle that when Parliament
   grants a power to the Secretary of State in an Act of Parlia-
   ment, Parliament is taken to accept that, in practice, the pow-er could be exercised by a civil servant within the Secretary of State’s department.

Question 13

Developing New Policy

government departments

Answer 13

1. The second function of government departments is to devel-op new policy. Usually, this will be based on the manifesto
   that the party elected into government published during the
   general election campaign.

2.The election of that political party is taken to give them a mandate to pursue those policies in government.

3. Should the law need to be changed to imple-
   ment the policy, then the government will introduce a bill
   into Parliament, seeking the necessary changes to the law to allow the government to implement their policy.

Question 14

Civil Service

Answer 14

Civil servants are classed as servants of the Crown and owe their duties to the Crown rather than government ministers.
92

Question 15

PRIVY COUNCIL

Answer 15

The Privy Council predates the Cabinet, which has super-
seded the Privy Council in importance. Today, the role of the Privy Council is entirely formal, and its main role is to approve decisions made elsewhere.

Question 16

functions of privy council

Answer 16

The main business of the Privy Council is to pass Orders
in Council, which are a form of legislation.
1. Some Orders in Council are made under the royal prerogative and can be considered a form of primary legislation.
2. However, most Orders in Council are made under powers granted to the Privy Council by statute. This type of Order in Council is a form of secondary legislation

Question 17

Appointments to the Privy Council

Answer 17

Appointments to the Privy Council are for life and are made
by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister. By con-
vention, all Cabinet ministers are appointed.

Question 18

Meeting of the Privy Council

Answer 18

Meetings are held in secret and require the attendance of
the Monarch. The Monarch is usually only joined by three
Privy Council members who are all government ministers.

Question 19

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
(‘JCPC’)

Answer 19

1. Of particular importance is the Judicial Committee of the
   Privy Council (‘JCPC’), which hears appeals on points of law
   from Commonwealth nations or British Overseas Territories
   that used to be part of the British Empire but lack a fnal
   appeal court of their own due to their small size.
   2.mNations that send cases to the JCPC include several Caribbean islands, such as the Bahamas and Jamaica, or British Overseas Terri-
   tories, such as the Falkland Islands and the Cayman Islands.
2. The appeals are heard by Justices of the Supreme Court who have been appointed to the Privy Council to fulfl this func-
   tion.

Question 20

MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Answer 20

1. collective responsibility
2. individual responsibility

Question 21

ministerial collective responsibility
Collective responsibility means that government ministers
must maintain support for government policy in public and
before Parliament.

Answer 21

a.Confdentiality
Discussions within government when developing policy are
confdential. This allows ministers to express their views free-ly in private, safe in the knowledge that their views should not be released to the public or to Parliament.
b.Unanimity
Once a decision is reached by the government, through the Cabinet, it is binding on all government ministers. Ministers
are expected to support government policy in public or be-fore Parliament. If a minister feels that they cannot support a
particular policy, then they must resign from the government.

Question 22

Setting Collective ResponsibilityAside

Answer 22

Collective responsibility can be set aside by the Prime Minis-
ter. Since 1945, this has happened on three occasions, each
of which has involved referendums. Setting aside collective
responsibility allowed government ministers to campaign on
diferent sides of the referendum campaign.

Question 23

Individual Responsibility
Ministers are also individually responsible for their own ac-
tions and must take responsibility and account for the opera-
tion and conduct of their government department.

Answer 23

a.Duty Not to Mislead Parliament
b.Responsibility and Accountability to Parliament forTheirDepartment
c. Private Conduct

Question 24

Duty Not to Mislead Parliament

Answer 24

Parliament can hold the government to account only if
they are given truthful information by ministers. If a minister is found to have misled Parliament, they are required to cor-
rect any inadvertent error as soon as possible. If a minister
has knowingly misled Parliament, then they are expected to
resign.

Question 25

Responsibility and Accountability to Parliament
for TheirDepartment

Answer 25

1. make account
   Ministers are required to give an account of the actions
   of their department. This means that ministers must
   respond to concerns and criticisms raised in Parliament.
2. take responsibility
   A minister is required to take responsibility for the actions
   of their department for which the minister personally
   should take the blame. This requires that ministers respond to criticisms made in Parliament in a manner which is likely
   to satisfy it. This can, ultimately, include resignation.

Question 26

policy failure vs. operational failure

Answer 26

A distinction has emerged between matters which are
policy failures, for which the minister takes responsibility, and matters which are viewed as operational failures, for which ministers give an account and take steps to ensure that failure does not reoccur.

Question 27

Private Conduct of ministers

Answer 27

1. In general, ministers are required to behave in a way that
   upholds the highest standards of propriety, even in their own private conduct. An important consideration as to whether
   a minister’s private conduct falls short is whether there has
   been a breach of the Ministerial Code.whether there has
   been a breach of the Ministerial Code. This is a document
   published by the Prime Minister which sets out the standards and obligations of ministers. At the least, ministers should
   ensure that no confict arises between their duties and their
   personal interests.
2. Ulti-mately, the arbiter of whether the Ministerial Code has been breached, or whether a minister should resign, is the Prime
   Minister.

Question 28

Accountability to Parliament
At its core, the requirement that the government has the con-fdence of the House of Commons means that government
should be accountable to Parliament. Consequently, the
following procedures provide opportunities for members of
the House of Commons and the House of Lords to hold the
government to account.**

Answer 28

a.Prime Minister’s Question Time
b.Ministerial Questions
c.Opposition Business
d.urgent questions
e.Select Committees

Question 29

Prime Minister’s Question Time

Answer 29

This is when the Prime Minister answers questions about the overall conduct of the govern-
ment from MPs from all political parties. The Leader of the
Opposition can ask six questions, which are responded to by the Prime Minister. In this way, a form of mini-debate takes
place between them. PMQs takes place once a week.

Question 30

Ministerial Questions

Answer 30

Each day, MPs are able to ask questions from ministers from a government department. Each government department is
on a rota and they are usually questioned once every fve
weeks. Questions must relate to the activities of that depart-ment, and no questions can be asked that relate to:
*Local authorities;
*The Monarch;
*The afairs of other countries;
*Matters devolved to Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales;
or
*A case being heard by a court of law at the time.

Written questions can be asked at any time, and the relevant government department will provide an answer within seven days.

Question 31

Opposition Business

Answer 31

20 days
are allocated to the opposition parties, who can choose to
debate a policy area of their choice and receive a response
from the government.

Question 32

Urgent Questions

Answer 32

If a matter is urgent, then an MP can apply to the Speaker to
ask a question that day. If the Speaker agrees that there is a
pressing matter of public interest, and there is no other way
for the issue to be debated, then he will grant the application. A minister is required to respond and explain the govern-
ment’s actions. Other MPs can then take part in the debate
that follows.

Question 33

Select Committees

Answer 33

1. There are two types of Select Committees. Departmental
   Select Committees shadow a government department. Other Select Committees cut across government departments,
   taking a broader view of government.
2. Select Committees
   choose which matters to investigate, question ministers and other witnesses, and invite experts to give evidence.
3. The Select Committee then writes a report to which the govern-ment is required to respond.