Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0051/00510.txt

Text File | 1993-07-27 | 14KB | 282 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00510}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{United Kingdom
The Privy Council}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC}
$Subject{ministers
cabinet
minister
council
prime
privy
government
lord
office
committee}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Title:       United Kingdom
Book:        Britain's System of Government
Author:      Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC
Date:        1990

The Privy Council

     Until the eighteenth century, the Sovereign in Council, or Privy
Council, was the chief source of executive power in the State. As the system
of Cabinet government developed, however, the Privy Council became less
prominent. Many powers were transferred to the Cabinet as an inner committee
of the Council, and much of its work was handed over to newly created
government departments, some of which were originally committees of the Privy
Council.

     Nowadays the main function of the Privy Council is to advise the Queen
to approve Orders in Council (those made under prerogative powers, such as
Orders approving the grant of royal charters of incorporation; and those made
under statutory powers). Members of the Privy Council attending meetings at
which Orders are made do not thereby become personally responsible for the
policy upon which the Orders are based. This responsibility rests with the
minister answerable for the subject matter of the Order in question, whether
or not he or she was present at the meeting.

     The Privy Council also advises the Crown on the issue of royal
proclamations, some of the most important of which relate to prerogative acts
(such as summoning or dissolving Parliament). The Council's own statutory
responsibilities, which are independent of the powers of the Sovereign in
Council, include powers of supervision over the registering bodies for the
medical and allied professions.

     Apart from Cabinet ministers, who must be Privy Counsellors and are
sworn in on first assuming office, membership of the Council (retained for
life except for very occasional removals) is accorded by the Sovereign on the
recommendation of the Prime Minister to eminent people in Britain and
independent monarchical countries of the Commonwealth. There are about 400
Privy Counsellors. A full Council is summoned only on the death of the
Sovereign or when the Sovereign announces his or her intention to marry.

Committees of the Privy Council

     There are a number of advisory Privy Council committees, whose meetings
differ from those of the Privy Council itself in that the Sovereign cannot
constitutionally be present. These may be prerogative committees, such as
those dealing with legislative matters submitted by the legislatures of the
Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and with applications for charters of
incorporation. They may also be provided for by statute, as are those for
the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the Scottish universities.

     The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the final court of appeal
for the courts of British dependencies, courts of independent members of the
Commonwealth which have not discontinued the appeal, courts of the Channel
Islands and the Isle of Man, and certain other courts, some professional and
disciplinary committees and ecclesiastical sources.

     Administrative work is carried out in the Privy Council Office under the
Lord President of the Council, a Cabinet minister.

Her Majesty's Government

     Her Majesty's Government is the body of ministers responsible for the
administration of national affairs. The Prime Minister is appointed by the
Queen, and all other ministers are appointed by the Queen on the
recommendation of the Prime Minister. The majority of ministers are members
of the Commons, although the Government is also fully represented by
ministers in the Lords. The Lord Chancellor is always a member of the House
of Lords.

Composition

     The composition of governments can vary both in the number of ministers
and in the titles of some offices. New ministerial offices may be created,
others may be abolished, and functions may be transferred from one minister
to another.

Prime Minister

     The Prime Minister is also, by tradition, First Lord of the Treasury and
Minister for the Civil Service. The head of the Government became known as the
Prime Minister during the eighteenth century. The Prime Minister's unique
position of authority derives from majority support in the House of Commons
and from the power to choose ministers and to obtain their resignation or
dismissal individually. By modern convention, the Prime Minister always sits
in the House of Commons.

     The Prime Minister informs the Queen at regular meetings of the general
business of the Government, presides over the Cabinet, and is responsible for
the allocation of functions among ministers.

     The Prime Minister's other responsibilities include recommending to the
Queen a number of appointments. These include: Church of England archbishops,
bishops and deans and some 200 other clergy in Crown `livings'; high judicial
offices, such as the Lord Chief Justice; Privy Counsellors, Lord-Lieutenants
and certain civil appointments, such as Lord High Commissioner to the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Poet Laureate, Constable of the Tower,
and some university posts; and appointments to various public boards and
institutions, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), as well as
various royal and statutory commissions. Recommendations are likewise made
for the award of many civil honours and distinctions and of Civil List
pensions (to people who have achieved eminence in science and the arts and
are in some financial need). The Prime Minister also selects the trustees of
certain national museums and institutions.

     The Prime Minister's Office at 10 Downing Street (the official residence
in central London) has a staff of civil servants who attend to the day-to-day
discharge of the Prime Minister's numerous responsibilities. The Prime
Minister may also appoint special advisers to the Office from time to time to
assist in the formation of policies.

Departmental Ministers

     Ministers in charge of government departments, who are usually in the
Cabinet, are known as `Secretary of State' or `Minister', or may have a
special title, as in the case of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Non-Departmental Ministers

     The holders of various traditional offices, namely the Lord President of
the Council, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Lord Privy Seal,
the Paymaster General and, from time to time, Ministers without Portfolio, may
have few or no departmental duties and are thus available to perform any
special duties the Prime Minister may wish to give them.

Lord Chancellor and Law Officers

     The Lord Chancellor holds a special position, being a minister with
departmental functions and also head of the judiciary. The four Law Officers
of the Crown are: for England and Wales, the Attorney General and the
Solicitor General; and for Scotland, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor
General for Scotland.

Ministers of State

     Ministers of State usually work with ministers in charge of departments
with responsibility for specific functions, and are sometimes given titles
which reflect these particular functions. More than one may work in a
department. A Minister of State may be given a seat in the Cabinet and be
paid accordingly.

Junior Ministers

     Junior ministers (generally Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State or,
where the senior minister is not a Secretary of State, simply Parliamentary
Secretaries) share in parliamentary and departmental duties. They may also be
given responsibility, directly under the departmental minister, for specific
aspects of the department's work. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
and other Lords Commissioners of the Treasury are in a different category as
Government Whips (see p 11).

Ministerial Salaries

     The salaries of ministers in the House of Commons range from 38,961
Pounds a year for junior ministers to 55,221 Pounds for Cabinet ministers. In
the House of Lords salaries range from 33,241 Pounds for junior ministers to
44,591 Pounds for Cabinet ministers. The Prime Minister receives 66,851
Pounds and the Lord Chancellor 91,500 Pounds.

     Ministers in the Commons, including the Prime Minister, receive a
parliamentary salary of 20,101 Pounds a year (which is included in the above
figures) in recognition of their constituency responsibilities and are
entitled to claim the other allowances which are paid to all MPs (see p 7).

The Cabinet

     The Cabinet is composed of about 20 ministers (the number can vary)
chosen by the Prime Minister and may include departmental and non-departmental
ministers.

     The functions of the Cabinet are: the initiation and final determination
of policies, the supreme control of government and the co-ordination of
government departments. The exercise of these functions is vitally affected
by the fact that the Cabinet is a group of party representatives, depending
upon majority support in the House of Commons.

Cabinet Meetings

     The Cabinet meets in private and its proceedings are confidential. Its
members are bound by their oath as Privy Counsellors not to disclose
information about its proceedings, although after Cabinet papers have been
in existence for 30 years they may be made available for inspection in the
Public Record Office at Kew, Surrey.

     Normally the Cabinet meets for a few hours once or twice a week during
parliamentary sittings, and rather less often when Parliament is not sitting.
To keep the workload of the Cabinet within manageable limits, a great deal of
work is carried on through the committee system, which involves the referring
of issues either to a standing Cabinet committee or to an ad hoc committee
composed of the ministers primarily concerned. The committee then considers
the matter in detail and either disposes of it or reports upon it to the
Cabinet with recommendations for action. The present Cabinet has four
standing committees: a defence and overseas policy committee and an economic
strategy committee, both chaired by the Prime Minister; and a home and social
affairs committee and a legislation committee, both chaired by the Lord
President of the Council. Sub-committees of the standing committees may be
established. Membership and terms of reference of all Cabinet committees are
confidential. Diaries published by several former ministers have given the
public insight into Cabinet procedures in recent times.

     Non-Cabinet ministers may be invited to attend meetings on matters
affecting their departments, and may be members of Cabinet committees.
Where appropriate, the Secretary of the Cabinet and other senior officials of
the Cabinet Office also attend meetings of the Cabinet and its committees.

The Cabinet Office

     The Cabinet Office, headed by the Secretary of the Cabinet, under the
direction of the Prime Minister, comprises the Cabinet Secretariat, the
Office of the Minister for the Civil Service and the Historical Section.

     The Cabinet Secretariat serves ministers collectively in the conduct of
Cabinet business and operates as an instrument in the co-ordination of policy
at the highest level.

     The Office of the Minister for the Civil Service is responsible for
Civil Service central recruitment, senior and public appointments, policies on
training, promotion and staff development, equal opportunities, occupational
health and the non-financial aspects of personnel management.

     The Historical Section of the Cabinet Office is in the process of
completing the official histories of the second world war, and is responsible
for preparing official histories of certain peacetime events.

Ministerial Responsibility

     `Ministerial responsibility' refers both to the collective responsibility
which ministers share for government policy and actions and to ministers'
individual responsibility to Parliament for their departments' work.

     The doctrine of collective responsibility means that the Cabinet acts
unanimously even when Cabinet ministers do not all agree on a subject. The
policy of departmental ministers must be consistent with the policy of the
Government as a whole. Once the Government's policy on a matter has been
decided, each minister is expected to support it or, if unable to, to resign.
On rare occasions, ministers have been allowed free votes in Parliament on
government policies involving important issues of principle.

     The individual responsibility of a minister for the work of his or her
department means that, as political head of that department, he or she is
answerable for all its acts and omissions. He or she must bear the
consequences of any defect of administration, any injustice to an individual
or any aspect of policy which may be criticised in Parliament, whether
personally responsible or not. Since most ministers are members of the House
of Commons, they must answer questions and defend themselves against criticism
in person. Departmental ministers in the House of Lords are represented in the
Commons by someone qualified to speak on their behalf, usually a junior
minister.

     Departmental ministers normally decide all matters within their
responsibility, although on important political matters they usually consult
their colleagues collectively, either through the Cabinet or through a Cabinet
committee. A decision by a departmental minister binds the Government as a
whole.

     The final responsibility of ministers is to Parliament. The knowledge
that any departmental action may be reported to and examined in Parliament
discourages the taking of arbitrary and ill-considered decisions.

     On assuming office ministers must resign directorships in private and
public companies, and must order their affairs so that there is no conflict
between public duties and private interests.