EXTRA-Ministers, their backgrounds and roles

Question 1

When referring to ministers, who does this refer to?

Answer 1

the 100 government members, including Cabinet ministers, ministers of the state, and parliamentary under secretaries

Question 2

In accordance with constitutional convention, traditionally where have all ministers within the government come from?

Answer 2

from the HOC and HOL

Question 3

Which PM brought in non-political outsiders to be ministers?

Answer 3

Gordon Brown

Question 4

Who was Sir Jones who was chosen as a non-poltiical outsider to be a minister by Gordon Brown?

Answer 4

he was the former director general of the CBI

Question 5

How do politicians normally need to prove themselves in order to become a minister?

Answer 5

they must prove themselves in the HOC and as a junior minister before entering the Cabinet

Question 6

Ministers have no training so how do they become specialised on their department?

Answer 6

they study their brief quickly and then to work themselves into the job

Question 7

What 4 qualities will help advancement to be a minister?

Answer 7

ambition
talent
managerial skills
record of loyalty

Question 8

how many ministers of state and permanent sectaries are there?

Answer 8

c30 each

Question 9

What are ministers of state and permanent secretaries collectively known as?

Answer 9

junior ministers

Question 10

Who are below the junior ministers?

Answer 10

the parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs)

Question 11

How many parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs) are there?

Answer 11

40-50

Question 12

What do parliamentary private secretaries do?

Answer 12

they are the general assistants of ministers and really act as ‘dogsbodies’

Question 13

Are parliamentary private secretaries paid?

Answer 13

no

Question 14

At the Department of Health under the Brown administration how many other ministers is the Cabinet minister backed by?

Answer 14

5

Question 15

Who are ministers very realist on for the work in their department?

Answer 15

civil servants

Question 16

In what 5 ways are civil servants vital to the running of the department for the minster?

Answer 16

• organise ministers day
• arrange appointments
• write letters on their behalf
• draft replies to parliamentary questions
• offer advice on political issues

Question 17

What are the 2 main roles of ministers?

Answer 17

• Duties in Cabinet and parliament

- administer a large Whitehall department

Question 18

What 5 things do ministers do?

Answer 18

• constituency duties
• speak in debates
• appear before select committees
• take their turn in the Despatch Box in Question Time
• pilot legislation through the house concerning their department

Question 19

In practise what % of the vast array of issues that come up are decided by the minister?

Answer 19

10-15%

Question 20

What are Next Step programmes?

Answer 20

they advanced in the late 1980’s to transform the civil service institutional arrangements following publication of the Ibbs Report

Question 21

Since the Next Step programme why has the minsters direct responsibility for what happens in whole areas of government work been reduced?

Answer 21

as the areas of policy making and implementation have been separated for efficiency

Question 22

Although ministers answer in the Commons on matters covered by an agency, who is the day to day management of the enterprises done by?

Answer 22

Chief Executives who take a share of responsibility for what happens

Question 23

What is the Ministerial Code?

Answer 23

as amended in 1995, places a clear demand on ministers to watch their behaviour carefully, Ministers myst not knowingly mislead parliament and the public, and they should correct any inadvertent errors at the earliest opportunity. They must be as open as possible with parliament and the public, withholding information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest

Question 24

Why how many are ministers outnumbered by their senior officials?

Answer 24

by around six or seven to one

Question 25

What is the average period in any ministerial office?

Answer 25

2 years

Question 26

What is a limitation on ministers as not pervasively having done work in a department?

Answer 26

they are non-specialist and so often lack knowledge of the departments work

Question 27

Why is it a disadvantage that ministers are non specialist?

Answer 27

as they rarely clearly possess defined objectives and priorities on taking over

Question 28

What % of ministers work goes on non-departmental matters?

Answer 28

65%

Question 29

Why may minsters find it difficult to get key information?

Answer 29

as they are dependent on what their officials tell them or the data with which they are presented

Question 30

What could officials do by with holding information?

Answer 30

they could embarrass the minister by leaking stories to journalists

Question 31

Why may minsters find it difficult to get their policies implemented and their decisions carried out?

Answer 31

as officials have over many decades developed the art of delay and frustration of ministerial initiatives