Structure, Role and Powers of the Executive Flashcards
1
Q
what are the executive powers of the PM/
A
- Head of cabinet meetings and its agenda
- A PM selects their own cabinet
- decides who sits on cabinet committees
- can create new departments e.g., department for exiting the EU) and merge them
2
Q
what are the features of the cabinet?
A
- made up of 20-23 senior ministers and makes decisions on key areas of policy
- has collective responsibility - all ministers must defend cabinet decisions
- can vote out the PM with a cabinet vote
3
Q
what is the proposing legislation role of the executive?
A
- most bills in parliament are public bills, meaning they come from the executive
- the executive can also use secondary legislation to develop policies
4
Q
what is the proposing budget role of the executive?
A
- the chancellor sets out a budget every year
- the 2020 budget included a freeze on income tax bands, £5bn emergency response fund for NHS and other public services and scrapping the tampon tax
5
Q
what is the making policy decisions role of the executive?
A
- they set the direction of the country
- this includes things such as welfare reform, reform of education system (changes to A levels), changes to NHS
- the day to day decisions e.g., deciding the road map and response to the COVID crisis
6
Q
what are the prerogative powers of the executive?
A
- appointing ministers
- granting legal pardons
- signing treaties
- declare war and using armed forces (although this is expected to be approved by parliament)
- award honours
- take emergency action at times of crisis
7
Q
what is the initiation of legislation role?
A
- the executive dominates parliamentary time (13 days for private member bills, 20 for opposition days, all the rest are controlled by govt)
- with a majority, the govt can be confident of passing the legislation it wants
8
Q
what is the secondary legislative power?
A
- laws made without passing a new Act of parliament
- normally done by using statutory instruments to modify existing legislation
- can be highly controversial e.g., 2016 abolishing maintenance grants for Uni
- are seen by some as a way of avoiding parliamentary scrutiny
- about 2/3 of secondary legislation become law without being debated by MPs