THE STRUCTURE AND POWERS OF THE EXECUTIVE Flashcards
What is the executive?
THE GOVERNMENT =
- the ultimate locus of state power, does most work, influences most profoundly on a day to day basis, responsible for administration of the state, the things done in the name of the state e.g policing of criminality, benefits, is in the hands of the executive.
THE ADMINISTRATION =
The body responsible for running the country.
THE INITIATING POWER =
The body that designs public policy and proposes new laws
The growth of the government… (history)
- In medieval times, the executive consisted of the monarch and his/her court - and had very little responsibility.
- During the industrial revolution, government began to assume new functions e.g for police, infrastructure and regulation.
- In present times; government exerts influence over many aspects of our lives: education, health, transport, immigration control etc.
- Nowadays, ‘something must be done’ usually means the government should do something.
The Executive in the UK consists of…
- the crown
- the privy council
- the prime minister
- the cabinet
- ministers and whips
- the civil service
The crown - roles & functions
The Crown is the monarch.
The monarch as a head of state.
Functions of a head of state:
1) constitutional - e.g appointing a PM, dissolving the legislature
2) ceremonial - e.g taking part in public ceremonies, welcoming heads of state
3) symbolic - ‘interpreting the nation to itself’ (Bognador)
The monarch as head of government:
- the Queen is not only a head of state, but also head of the executive. Monarch has a position in Parliament. She works as a politically impartial head of parliament.
- “Almost all public ministers offer advice to the Monarch, advice is binding, sovereign normally has no option but to accept” - Bognador.
A monarch with power?
- The crown exercises prerogative power
- The power that the Queen had has not gone away, powers to:
1. declare war and deploy armed forces
2. sign treaties and conduct international relations
3. Grant mercy and honours
4. issue passports
^ these powers are now exercised in practice by ministers, but the monarch does retain some ‘personal’ prerogative powers.
‘Personal’ prerogative powers:
- The appointment of a prime minister = by convention, she must appoint the person who is in the best position to receive the support of a majority in the house of commons.
- The prorogation and summoning of parliament = the dissolution of parliament is now governed by the fixed term parliaments act 2011.
- Royal assent to legislation = the last sovereign to refuse royal assent was Queen Anne in 1708
The nature of prerogative power:
- the prerogative is a legal power.
- Unlike conventions, powers under the prerogative can be tested in the courts; but because they are often political, they are often difficult to enforce legally (and difficult to interpret) - and they are, therefore, usually left to politicians to exercise without interference (Council for civil service unions v minister of state for the civil service 1985)
A summary of prerogative power:
They are…
- Powers traditionally in the hands of the crown not removed by parliament
- Most are political in nature and exercised by the executive;
- some are exercised by other branches of the state (judges, the speaker of the commons etc) and,
- A (very) few remain personal to monarch (some honours)
- They remain important to the running of the government and state.
- They are reviewable by courts except to the extent that they’re political.
- If power is political, judges will step back in the judicial review, may not interfere because it’s too political in context.
The Monarch’s power of influence;
“the sovereign has under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights - the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn” - Bagehot, English constitution.
The Privy Council
Judicial committee of privy council acts as highest court of appeal in some cases - commonwealth.
- It is, historically, the supreme legislature, executive and judicial body advising the monarch;
- it predates parliament;
- Its role relates most often to the exercise of prerogative power.
WHAT IS IT?
- The ‘Queen in council’ (as distinct from queen in parliament)
- Exercises powers in relation to the royal prerogative e.g orders in council.
- Majority of members are senior politicians, but also includes members of the royal family, judges, clergy, ambassadors and senior civil servants.
- Meetings are confidential - so important forum for national security briefings etc.
- Mostly works through committees:
- Executive committee of the privy council AKA the cabinet
- The Judicial committee of privy council (the judges of the supreme court sitting as a court of commonwealth) - final Court of Appeal for devolution disputes.
The Prime Minister
The PM is the head of the UK government and the most important politician in the UK.
By convention must be:
- a member of the HOC
- Able to command the confidence of the HOC - must command majority, get most people to agree with them.
Responsible:
- Appointing other members of the government (nominates them and the Queen appoints them)
- Chairing the cabinet
- Overseeing the operation of the civil service and government agencies
- Representing the government in the HOC
- The PM has a few formal legal powers - her powers derive almost entirely from convention and political practice.
- Some PM’s e.g margaret thatcher and tony blair have been accused of ‘presidentialism’; not paying due regard to the views of other ministers
- The ‘style’ adopted by a prime minister will vary according to individual personality and political power
The Cabinet
A group of people who occupy positions of authority in the state and meet with the PM every week.
“cabinet is the ultimate decision making body of government. The purpose of the cabinet and it’s committee is it provides a framework for ministers to consider and make collective decisions in policy issues”
- Weekly meetings (on thursday mornings) of most senior ministers (secretaries of state)
- Members are appointed by PM (strictly, her majesty on PM’s advice) who determines composition and size of cabinet.
- It has no legal powers - which are conferred by statute on individual secretaries of state - but operates under convention.
- Serves to co-ordinate the decisions of the various government departments.
- Decline in authority of cabinet
- – prime ministerial ‘presidentialism’
- – Increasing importance of ministerial committees/sub committees.
Ministers
Members of the governing political party who have been appointed to a political office in the government.
- Appointed formally by the monarch, de facto by the PM.
- By convention, they must be members of either house of parliament.
- Ministers are graded in terms of their importance and area of responsibility.
- Secretaries of state head government departments and sit in cabinet e.g home secretary, foreign secretary
- Ministers of state are responsible for more specific policy areas e.g minister of state for immigration, minister of state for middle east.
- Whips encourage MP’s and peers from their party to vote with the government. (whips are people who sit in houses of parliament and encourage members to side with government when votes are taken)
- The Attorney-General is the governments chief legal advisor, he attends, but is not a member of the cabinet.
Ministers powers:
They derive from;
- legislation
- common law
- prerogative
Ministers use of their powers may be challenged;
- in court, through judicial reviews
- in Parliament, through parliamentary questions.
In practice, most exercises of ministerial powers are affected by civil servants acting on ministers’ behalves.
The Civil Service
A large body, half a million people
Definition = “servants of the crown, other than holders of political or judicial office who are employed in a civil capacity and whose remuneration is paid wholly and directly of our monies votes by parliament”
Excludes:
- Military personnel and police
- Local government employees
- Employees of nationalised industries
- Employees of state sponsored sectors e.g NHS, state schools
- Those working in non-departmental public bodies.
Civil Service structure (traditional):
- Political head = secretary of state (a politican, member of cabinet and MP - occasionally a member of house of lords)
- Administrative head = permanent secretary (civil servant) departmental civil service staff carry out day to day work of the department.
Civil Service Structure (modern):
Administrative agencies (next step agencies)
- The Ibb’s report (improving management in government - the next steps)
- Aimed at improving efficiency in government
- — Government departments should be small, centralised, aimed at giving advice ‘upwards’
- — Service delivery agencies, should be outward facing and client focused e.g the passport agency, benefits agency, child support, DVLA
- — Each agency is headed by a chief executive, appointed on a contractual basis ‘the job of the government is to steer, not row the boat’ (Osbourne and gaebier)
Principles of the Civil Service -
(3 principles - permanence, neutrality, anonymity)
Our civil servants do not change from one administration to another - they are permanent. Benefits from this - an honour.
The ambition of civil servants is to have a career that is secure - long lasting career that doesn’t require change.
1) Permanence =
- in constitutional theory, crown servants serve ‘at the pleasure of the crown’
- Permanence means that civil servants don’t lose their position with a change in government or cabinet reshuffle
- Creates ‘institutional memory’ - ministers come and go, civil servants remain.
2) Neutrality =
- ‘serial loyalty’ to the government of the day (regardless of civil servants’ political views) has to be loyal to the current administration and to the next one even if they are opposed.
- Political ‘leaks’ are disallowed by rules of conduct for civil servants - must keep things secret.
- Civil servants must comply with political instructions or be transferred or resign.
- There are restrictions on public political activities of (particularly senior) civil servants.
- Must be objective.
3) Anonymity =
- ministers are accountable for their departments to parliament and to the public.
- Civil servants are able to hide behind their political masters (we dont normally know who they are)
- to be able to offer a spectrum of advice, it is necessary that their advice be protected from public scrutiny.
