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Jul 21, 2021 · Published: July 21, 2021 11:29am EDT. The UK prime minister currently chooses his or her ministers from membership of the Houses of Parliament. But a new commission has suggested that the PM should...
- Brexit
Brexit is a deeply divisive issue. Even democracy itself...
- UK Constitution
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the weekly PMQs session...
- Brexit
- Foreword by The Prime Minister
- Ministers of The Crown
- Ministers and The Government
- Ministers and Appointments
- Ministers and Their Departments
- Ministers and Civil Servants
- Ministers’ Constituency and Party Interests
- Ministers’ Private Interests
- Ministers and The Presentation of Policy
- Ministers and Parliament
Our country faces profound challenges at home and abroad. People face rising prices, and families are feeling the squeeze. So it is incumbent on everyone, at every level of this government, to work like never before to deliver for the British people. First and foremost, we will ensure economic stability, bringing compassion and fairness to the chal...
General principle
1.1 Ministers of the Crown are expected to maintain high standards of behaviour and to behave in a way that upholds the highest standards of propriety. 1.2 Ministers should be professional in all their dealings and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect. Working relationships, including with civil servants, ministerial and parliamentary colleagues and parliamentary staff should be proper and appropriate. Harassing, bullying or other inappropriate or di...
General principle
2.1 The principle of collective responsibility requires that 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. This in turn requires that the privacy of opinions expressed in Cabinet and Ministerial Committees, including in correspondence, should be maintained.
Cabinet and Ministerial Committee business
2.2 The business of the Cabinet and Ministerial Committees consists in the main of: 1. a. questions which significantly engage the collective responsibility of the Government because they raise major issues of policy or because they are of critical importance to the public; 2. b. questions on which there is an unresolved argument between departments.
Collective responsibility
2.3 The internal process through which a decision has been made, or the level of Committee by which it was taken should not be disclosed. Neither should the individual views of Ministers or advice provided by civil servants as part of that internal process be disclosed. Decisions reached by the Cabinet or Ministerial Committees are binding on all members of the Government. They are, however, normally announced and explained as the decision of the Minister concerned. On occasion, it may be des...
General principle
3.1 Civil service appointments must be made in accordance with the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Ministerial involvement in such appointments is set out in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. Public appointments should be made in accordance with the requirements of the law and, where appropriate, the Governance Code issued by the Cabinet Office. Ministers have a duty to ensure that influence over civil service and public appointments is...
Special advisers
3.2 With the exception of the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers may each appoint up to two special advisers. The Prime Minister may also authorise the appointment of special advisers for Ministers who regularly attend Cabinet. All appointments, including exceptions to this rule, require the prior written approval of the Prime Minister, and no commitments to make such appointments should be entered into in the absence of such approval. All special advisers will be appointed under terms and con...
Departmental Boards
3.5 Secretaries of State should chair their departmental board. Boards should comprise other Ministers, senior officials, a Lead Non-Executive and non-executive board members, (largely drawn from the commercial private sector and appointed by the Secretary of State in accordance with Cabinet Office guidelines). The remit of the board should be performance and delivery, and to provide the strategic leadership of the department.
General principle
4.1 The Prime Minister is responsible for the overall organisation of the executive and the allocation of functions between Ministers in charge of departments.
Approval criteria
4.2 The Prime Minister’s approval must be sought where changes are proposed that affect this allocation and the responsibilities for the discharge of ministerial functions. This applies whether the functions in question are derived from statute or from the exercise of the Royal Prerogative, or are general administrative responsibilities. 4.3 The Prime Minister’s written approval must be sought where it is proposed to transfer functions: 1. a. between Ministers in charge of departments; and 2....
Ministers outside the Cabinet
4.6 The Minister in charge of a department is solely accountable to Parliament for the exercise of the powers on which the administration of that department depends. The Minister’s authority may, however, be delegated to a Minister of State, a Parliamentary Secretary, or to an official. It is desirable that Ministers in charge should devolve to their junior Ministers responsibility for a defined range of departmental work, particularly in connection with Parliament. 4.7 A Minister’s proposal...
General principle
5.1 Ministers must 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 and the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Ministers should be professional in their working relationships with the Civil Service and treat all those with whom they come into contact with consideration and respect. 5.2 Ministers have a duty to give fair consideration and due weight to informed a...
The role of the Accounting Officer
5.3 Heads of departments and the chief executives of executive agencies are appointed as Accounting Officers. This is a personal responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the public finances for which he or she is responsible; for keeping proper accounts; for the avoidance of waste and extravagance; and for the efficient and effective use of resources. Accounting Officers answer personally to the Committee of Public Accounts on these matters, within the framework of Ministerial accou...
Senior Responsible Owners
5.6 Senior Responsible Owners of the Government’s major projects (as defined in the Government’s Major Project Portfolio) are expected to account to Parliament, for the decisions and actions they have taken to deliver the projects for which they have personal responsibility. This line of accountability relates to implementation (not policy development).
General principle
6.1 Ministers are provided with facilities at Government expense to enable them to carry out their official duties. These facilities should not generally be used for party or constituency activities.
Use of Government property/ resources
6.2 Government property should not generally be used for constituency work or party political activities. A particular exception is recognised in the case of official residences. Where Ministers host party or personal events in these residences it should be at their own or party expense with no cost falling to the public purse. (See also paragraph 7.10). 6.3 Official facilities and resources may not be used for the dissemination of material which is essentially party political. The convention...
Constituency interests
6.4 Where Ministers have to take decisions within their departments which might have an impact on their own constituencies, they must take particular care to avoid any possible conflict of interest. Within departments, the Minister should advise their Permanent Secretary and, in the case of junior Ministers, their Secretary of State and Permanent Secretary of the interest and responsibilities should be arranged to avoid any conflict of interest. 6.5 Ministers are free to make their views abou...
General principle
7.1 Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise.
Responsibility for avoiding a conflict
7.2 It is the personal responsibility of each Minister to decide whether and what action is needed to avoid a conflict or the perception of a conflict, taking account of advice received from their Permanent Secretary and the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ interests.
Procedure
7.3 On appointment to each new office, Ministers must provide their Permanent Secretary with a full list in writing of all interests which might be thought to give rise to a conflict. The list should also cover interests of the Minister’s spouse or partner and close family which might be thought to give rise to a conflict. 7.4 Where appropriate, the Minister will meet the Permanent Secretary and the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ interests to agree action on the handling of interests. Mini...
General principle
8.1 Official facilities paid for out of public funds should be used for Government publicity and advertising but may not be used for the dissemination of material which is essentially party political. The conventions governing the work of the Government Communication Service are set out in the Government Communication Service’s Propriety Guidance – Guidance on Government Communications.
Media interviews, speeches etc
8.2 In order to ensure the effective coordination of Cabinet business, the policy content and timing of all major announcements, speeches, press releases and new policy initiatives should be cleared in draft with the No 10 Press and Private Offices at least 24 hours in advance. All major interviews and media appearances, both print and broadcast, should also be agreed with the No 10 Press Office. 8.3 In all cases other than those described in paragraph 6.6, the principle of collective respons...
Press articles
8.6 Ministers may contribute to a book, journal or newspaper, including a local newspaper in their constituency, provided that publication will not be at variance with their obligations to Parliament and their duty to observe the principle of collective Ministerial responsibility. No payment should be accepted for such articles. 8.7 Any Minister wishing to practice regular journalism must have the prior approval of the No 10 Press Office.
General principle
9.1 When Parliament is in session, the most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance, in Parliament.
Timing and form of announcement
9.2 Even when Government announcements are not of major importance their timing may require careful consideration in order to avoid clashes with other Government publications, statements or announcements or with planned Parliamentary business. The Offices of the Leader of the Commons, the Chief Whip and the Prime Minister should be given as long an opportunity as possible to comment on all important announcements. 9.3 Every effort should be made to avoid leaving significant announcements to t...
Oral Statements
9.4 Ministers should not give undertakings, either in or outside the House of Commons, that an oral statement will be made to the House until the agreement has been given by the private secretaries to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the House of Commons and the Chief Whip. The Leader of the House of Lords and Lords Chief Whip should be consulted where a statement is to be made in the House of Lords in the first instance. 9.5 A copy of the text of an oral statement should usually be shown to...
Nov 13, 2023 · The UK's unwritten constitution does not dictate that a person needs to be an MP to take up the post of a minister, iNews reports. However, the ministerial code does say that you need...
Nov 13, 2023 · How can a non-MP or Lord become a minister? Mr Cameron resigned as prime minister after the Brexit referendum in 2016 and has been out of frontline politics since the 2017 general election....
Aug 17, 2019 · By tradition, the Prime Minister must be a member of the House of Commons. As such they must be 18 or over and a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen. They cannot be a noble, though it is possible to renounce one's hereditary position in order to stand for Parliament.
Jul 21, 2021 · Currently ministers can be called before parliament (either the House of Lords or House of Commons) to be questioned within the chamber about what is going on in their departments, actions that...
People also ask
Do government ministers have to be members of Parliament?
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May 8, 2024 · In theory a government minister does not have to be a member of either House of Parliament. In practice, however, the convention is that ministers must be members of either the House of Commons or House of Lords in order to be accountable to Parliament.
