The Cabinet Office

Question 0

What does the modern Cabinet Office consist off?

Answer 0

Consisting of around 2,000 staff, from 1998 it included a Cabinet Office minister (the ‘cabinet enforcer’), a cabinet secretary, four separate secretariats, a Performance and Innovation Unit, a Woman’s unit, the Centre for Management and Policy Studies, a head of the Government and Communication Service and a chief scientific advisor.

Question 1

How did Labour change the structure of the Cabinet Office after 1998?

Answer 1

Labour combine several new bodies with other previously independent ones, in a Cabinet Office that many saw as a Prime Minister’s Department in all but name.

Question 2

To what extent has the reorganisation of the Cabinet Office led to the strengthening of prime- ministerial power?

Answer 2

The Guardian and others argued that the physical centralisation of the Cabinet office – with staff from 17 former Cabinet Office building relocating to Downing Street – enhanced prime-ministerial control over the cabinet.
Cabinet office is a key element in the core executive.
Despite Labour’s changes, the Prime Minister’s resources are still less than those of a minister managing a major department.