Pl 1.4 Responsible Government Flashcards
Role of PM
Political head of the UK government.
Leader of the political party, which is ‘able to command the confidence of the House of Commons’,
PM’s Powers
Few powers in law, sig by convention
- Appoint or remove ministers (by advising King)
- Size and composition of Cabinet
- General policy direction of gov
Subject matter and composition of Cabinet comittees - When Cabinet meets and agenda
PM is also the
Minister for the Civil Service
First Lord of the Treasury.
Cabinet Office
Department of the UK Gov, supports to the PM and Cabinet
Ensure the Civil Service helps gov
Head of Civil Service
senior government official within the Cabinet Office, operating as the Cabinet Secretary.
Cabinet Office has responsibility for:
Political and constitutional reform
* The Civil Service
* Supporting the National Security Council and Joint Intelligence Organisation
* The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
Privy Council
The PC “advises” the monarch on the exercise of the royal prerogative.
It meets to get Monarch approval
Secret, and allegiance.
Leaders of opposition parties are also appointed
The Cabinet
“ultimate decision making body of government”
Chaired by the PM and meets weekly
Exists via convention, but not found in legislation.
Cabinet Ministers are also Privy Counsellors.
Cabinet Committes
Cabinet committees deal with
specific areas of government administration, such as national security.
Cabinet committee decisions have the same status as decisions of the full
Cabinet.
They relieve pressure on decision making
COBRA Committee
Cabinet Office Briefing Room and it provides the mechanism for agreeing government response to major emergencies such as a terrorist attack or pandemic.
No fixed membership
Collective Ministerial Responsibility
All government ministers are bound by the collective decisions of the Cabinet
- Confidentiality
- Unanimity
- Confidence
= Convention
CMR: Confidentiality
Duty not to disclose confidential matters.
Attorney-General v Jonathan Cape … Crossman Diaries:
- Convention not legally enforceable in its own right.
Court did accept legal action in some confidence
CMR: Unanimity
Publicly agree or resign
Heseltine resigned over the Westland Affair in 1986
Robin Cook; Clare Short; and John Denham resigned over Iraq intervention.
CMR: Confidence
Confidence of Parliament (the people)
Vote of no confidence –> PM resigns
eg 1979 James Callaghan.
Purely governed by convention following the 2022 repeal of the Fixed term Parliaments Act 2011
Individual Ministerial Responsibility
IMR has been supplemented to a large extent by the Ministerial Code.
Classic doctrine, is minister accepts responsibility and resigns for failures.
Uncertainty arises around:
- Degree of fault in modern “big government”
- Unavoidable entanglement with short-term realities of political world
Evolution of convention of IMR
Sense of obligation has become weaker - a matter of changing constitutional morality or practicality?
Interventionist government ==> disconnect betwee top and operational matters
Crichel Down Affair
1954
Resignation of Minister for Agriculture Thomas Dugdale
Inquiry after reneging on a promise made by civil servants in department
Maxwell Fyfe Guidelines
Recommendations following Crichel Down Inquiry
Distinguished between situations where relevant minister had personal involvement or knowledge - in these cases Minister should resign
Where there is an explicit order made by a minister, in which case the minister must protect the civil servant who has carried out his order
Resign
Maxwell Fyfe
When the civil servant acts properly in accordance with policy laid down by the minister, in
which case the minister must protect the civil servant.
Resign
Maxwell Fyfe
Where an official makes a mistake or causes some delay, but not on an important issue of
policy.
No resignation needed
Where a civil servant has taken the action, of which the minister disapproved and has no prior knowledge, and the conduct of the official is reprehensible.
No resignation required
James Prior, Northern Ireland Secretary
Did not resign following mass break out from Maze Prison in 1983
policy/operational divide
Michael Howard, Home Secretary
Refused to resign following the escape of six high category prisoners from Whitemore Prison in 1994
Dispute with the Director of Prison Service, Derek lewis, who he blamed for operational failings.
IMR: Accountability
Weakening obligation to resign, but a greater emphasis on direct accountability.
- Keeping Parliament informed about problems/errors
Openess is a key trend in modern public law
Scott Report
- ‘Arms to
Responsible government 63
Iraq affair’ from the 1980s. = constructive response to a
serious problem within government.
Greater openess and accountability
Enhanced emphasis on accountability and openness of government…
- Key trend in modern public law
- Principle rationale for judicial scrutiny of the executive
- notable feature of the Ministerial Code
Informing Parliament
MC updated in
May 2022) state at paras 1.3 b. and c:
- ‘Ministers have a duty to Parliament to be accountable for the policies,
decisions and actions of their departments and agencies.’ - ‘It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to
Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity.
Ministers who
knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the Prime
Minister.
Profumo Affair
Mislead Parliament
Resignation of John Profumo in 1963
Background of the Ministerial Code
Impetus towards transparency and accountability.
No enforcement mechanism
Written guidance originated in 1980s and was made public in John Major’s 1992 government
First version of Ministerial Code
1997
Published at the start of Tony Blair’s premiership
MC Principles
Seven Principles of Public Life = Nolan Principles of Public
* Selflessness
* Integrity
* Objectivity
* Accountability
* Openness
* Honesty
* Leadership
Ministerial Code Rules
Unenforceable set of rules = soft law
Investigation of breaches are at the discretion of the PM
Ministerial code covers…
- conduct of ministers (not their performance or effectiveness in office)
- principle of collective responsibility
- Proper and transparent engagement with Parliament
- conflicts of interest
- Proper use of government resources
Application of the Ministerial Code
- Government Ministers (in full)
- Parliamentary private secretaries (some parts only)
- Special advisers (some parts only)
Conseq of breaking the MC
Guidance only.
Responsibility - PM ultimate judge.
PM can refer to the PM’s Independent Adviser on Minister’s Interest who can initiate an investigation
BJ and updating the Ministerial Code
Updated the Ministerial Code during premiership, as opposed to at the start.
- Removed seven principles from the foreward.
- Need for public apology or docking of salaryonly at PM discretion
Ministerial Code: CMR
Ministers should be able to express their
views frankly in the expectation that they can argue freely in private while maintaining a
united front when decisions have been reached.
Privacy should be maintained
Ministerial Code: Engagement with Parliament
S9 of the Code provides specific detail on how ministers ought to relate to Parliament
The most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance, in Parliament.
Esther McVey
MP SoS for Work and Pensions
NAO “wanted to roll out faster” Universal Credit
NAO said this was incorrect
Alleged breach
Consequences of McVey’s alleged breacj
Head of NAO took wrote to McVey to take issue with how she responded.
Calls for McVey’s resignation, for deliberately misleading Parliament.
She apologised in Parliament for ‘inadvertently misleading’ it.
Ministerial Code: Conflicts of Interest
Principle 7:
- no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise.
- no Minister should accept gifts from anyone placing them under obligation (same for member of family)
Priti Patel - Conflict of Interest
Priti Patel MP was forced to resign from Theresa May’s government in November 2017.
As International Development Secretary, she had conducted unofficial meetings with Israeli
ministers and business reps
Priti Patel under BJ
Appointed Home Secretary
Accused of having breached the Ministerial Code prior to this appointment, for
doing paid strategic consulting work for a private company without seeking approval from the
advisory committee on business appointments.
The Prime Minister took no action.
General principle on behaviour
- Professional in all dealing
- Consideration and Resect
- Proper and appropriate working relationships
- Harassing/Bullying… not tolerated
Michael Fallon
- Defence Secretary
- Resigned October 2017
- Allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour.
- Left Parliament before the 2019 general election.
Gavin Williamson
- Resigned from Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio in November
2022 - Allegations of bullying and aggressive text messaging made against him by
the former government Chief Whip, Wendy Morton.
Dominic Raab
- resigned as Justice Secretary in April 2023
- Report by Adam Tolley KC: responsible for intimidation and overly aggressive criticism of several civil servants,
as well as an abuse of his power during his time as Foreign Secretary
Priti Patel Bullying
BJ didnt make her resign after Cabinet Office inquiry found her responsible for bullying behaviour in the Home Office
Ministerial Code: Emphasis on IMR
On Ministerial Accountability and conduct rather than performance of ministers in office
What does the Civil Service do?
As set out in the Cabinet Manual
- Civil service supports the gov
- Political impartiality
Constitutional principles of the Civil Service
- Permanence
- Political Neutrality
- Anonymity
Civil Service: Permanence
- does not
change personnel with each new gov - pool of people with
specialist skills and
experience
Civil Service: Political Neutrality
- A requirement of permanence
Civil Service: Anonymity
Civil servants are not (with some senior exceptions) public-facing.
The Minister is politically accountable for
the dept’s actions.
Ministerial Code – general principle 5.1
requires all ministers to uphold the political impartiality of the Civil Service, and not ask civil servants to act in any way which would conflict with the Civil Service Code.
Structure of Gov Departments
SoS, Permanent Secretaries, Special Advisors, Senior Responsible Owners, Civil Servants
SPADS
Special Advisors
Political appointees
Permanent Secretaries
Most senior civil servant in department.
Politically neutral
Accounting Officer
The personal accountability of the Accounting Officer = Parliament’s
ability to hold the Executive to account for public spending
Permanent Secretary usually the Accounting Officer
Senior Responsible Owners
Politically responsible - personally responsible for delivery of major gov projects.
Accountability relates to implementation not policy development
SROs, Perm Secs and Accounting Officers may be called to give evidence to
Parliamentary Select Committees
Civil Service Code: Core values
- Integrity
- Honesty
- Objectivity
- Impartiality
Civil Servants are accountable to….
Ministers, who in turn are accountable (at least in theory) to Parliament.
Political Impartiality
Civil Service Code
- Retain confidence of ministers
- Same relationship with any future government
- Not alienate opposition ministers
- Code forms part of a “contractual relationship” between civil servant and the government department - breach is therefore a breach of employment contract/
Can ministers dismiss civil servants?
No - at least nor formallt
Civil Service Accountability to Parliament
Questioning of civil servants by Parliamentary Select Committees (PSCs).
The function of the CS is to ….
The function of the CS is to implement the policies of the government of the day
Margaret Hodge MP
Former Chair of the Public Accounts Committee gave her view in 2016 that the convention of CS being accountable to ministers, being accountable to parliament is broken
Senior civil servants are accountable to….
Parliament
An important convention
