CENTRALGOVERNMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY Flashcards
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Although there is no definitive list of powers of the Prime Minister,
practice and convention over time indicates that the Prime
Minister has the following powers.
- Organisation of Government and Civil Service
- Constitutional Role
- Security and Intelligence Matters
- Armed Forces
- International Relations and Brexit
Organisation of Government and Civil
Service
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
Constitutional Role of PM
- 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 relationship between the UK government and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
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GOVERNMENT MINISTERS
- 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, ministerial 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
conventional restrictions
appointing ministers
By convention, ministers must have a seat in either the
House of Commons or the House of Lords.
political restrictions
appointing ministers
The Prime Minister remains in office 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.
Composition of Cabinet
*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 departments;
*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);
*The Chief Whip, responsible for maintaining the ‘discipline’ 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.
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Role of Cabinet
*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 affairs; and
*National emergencies, including terrorism.
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Cabinet Committees
- 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
- Decisions made in a Cabinet committee have the same authority as a Cabinet decision.
Ministers
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.
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functions of government departments
- governing according to law and policy
- developing new policy
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Governing According to Law and Policy
goverment departments
- 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.
- The Carltona doctrine is the principle that when Parliament grants a power to the Secretary of State in an Act of Parliament, 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.
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Developing New Policy
government departments
- 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.
- The election of that political party is taken to give them a mandate to pursue those policies in government.
- Should the law need to be changed to implement 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.
Civil Service
Civil servants are classed as servants of the Crown and owe their duties to the Crown rather than government ministers.
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PRIVY COUNCIL
The Privy Council predates the Cabinet, which has superseded 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.
functions of privy council
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**
Appointments to the Privy Council
Appointments to the Privy Council are for life and are made by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister. By convention, all Cabinet ministers are appointed.
Meeting of the Privy Council
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.
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Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
(‘JCPC’)
- 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 final appeal court of their own due to their small size. - Nations that send cases to the JCPC include several Caribbean islands, such as the Bahamas and Jamaica, or British Overseas Territories, such as the Falkland Islands and the Cayman Islands.
- The appeals are heard by Justices of the Supreme Court who have been appointed to the Privy Council to fulfl this function.
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MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY
- collective responsibility
- individual responsibility
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ministerial collective responsibility
Collective responsibility means that government ministers
must maintain support for government policy in public and
before Parliament.
a.Confdentiality
Discussions within government when developing policy are confidential. 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.
Setting Collective ResponsibilityAside
Collective responsibility can be set aside by the Prime Minister. Since 1945, this has happened on three occasions, each of which has involved referendums. Setting aside collective responsibility allowed government ministers to campaign on different sides of the referendum campaign.
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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.
a.Duty Not to Mislead Parliament
b.Responsibility and Accountability to Parliament forTheirDepartment
c. Private Conduct
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Duty Not to Mislead Parliament
- 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.
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Responsibility and Accountability to Parliament
for TheirDepartment
- 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. - 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.
policy failure vs. operational failure
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.
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Private Conduct of ministers
- 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. 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.** - Ulti-mately, the arbiter of whether the Ministerial Code has beenbreached, or whether a minister should resign, is the Prime
Minister.
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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.**
a.Prime Minister’s Question Time
b.Ministerial Questions
c.Opposition Business
d.urgent questions
e.Select Committees
Prime Minister’s Question Time
This is when the Prime Minister answers questions about the overall conduct of the government 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.
5.
Ministerial Questions
1.; Each day, MPs are able to ask questions from ministers from a government department.
2.Each government department is on a rota and they are usually questioned once every 5 weeks.
3. Questions must relate to the activities of that depart-ment,
4. 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.
5, Written questions can be asked at any time, and the relevant government department will provide an answer within 7 days.
Opposition Business
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.
Urgent Questions
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 government’s actions. Other MPs can then take part in the debate that follows.
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Select Committees
- 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.
- Select Committees choose which matters to investigate, question ministers and other witnesses, and invite experts to give evidence.
- The Select Committee then writes a report to which the govern-ment is required to respond.
