Politics - Prime Minister And Cabinet - Ministerial Responsibility

Front 1

Individual ministerial responsibility 1

Back 1

. Individual ministerial responsibility is the idea that ministers are responsible for the running of their department and it's policies, as well as the standard of their own personal conduct

. The Ministerial Code, a document which outlines the official definition of individual responsibility, has the latest version stating that "Ministers have a duty to parliament to account, and be held to account, for the policies, decisions and actions of their departments and agencies"

. Ministers are obliged to give accurate information to parliament, and if they knowingly mislead parliament, they are expected to resign - not normally over minor mistakes

. They only remain in office for so long as they retain the confidence of the prime minister

Front 2

Individual ministerial responsibility 2

Back 2

. The fate of an individual minister depends on how serious the issue is perceived to be, the level of criticism in Parliament and the media, as well as the attitude of the PM on the day

. Since the late 1980s, a factor that has eroded the concept of individual responsibility is the way in which many government functions have been delegated to executive agencies under a direct general, rather than a minister

. This has lead to some doubt about who is accountable - E.g In 1995, the Home Secretary Michael Howard controversially sacked Derek Lewis, the director general of the Prisons Service, following criticism of the escape of prisoners from Parkhurst Jail

. The blurring lines of accountability has meant that, in some cases, civil servants rather than ministers have been held responsible for departmental errors - E.g three civil servants were suspended in 2012 after Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin admitted that mistakes had been made in the awarding of a franchise to companies to run trains on the West Coast Main Line

. Personal misconduct is a more common cause of resignations than failures of policy or administration

Front 3

Collective ministerial responsibility 1

Back 3

. Collective ministerial responsibility is the convention that ministers must support all decisions of the government in public - They are responsible as a group to parliament and thus to the people, and that discussions in Cabinet should be confidential

. If defeated in a vote of no confidence in the Commons, the government as a whole resigns

. The practice is designed to maintain the unity of the government in the face of attacks by the opposition

Front 4

Collective ministerial responsibility 2

Back 4

. Once a decision is reached between ministers, it is binding on them all and if a minister cannot accept such a decision then in theory they should resign

. E.g a resignation was made in 2003 of Robin Cook, leader of the House of Commons, in opposition to the Blair government's decision to go to war with Iraq

. Clear-cut resignations on grounds of disagreement with government policy are quite rare and would possibly end a political career - more common for ministers who are unhappy with government to grumble from within, or 'leak' their dissatisfaction to the media, rather than take a public stand

Front 5

Exceptions to collective responsibility - examples 1

Back 5

. Times when collective responsibility has been modified for political reasons

. E.g The need to find a compromise between the Conservatives and LibDems in order to form a coalition government in 2010 - It was agreed at the outlet that the LibDem ministers would not be bound by collective responsibility on four issues

. These areas were where they were most likely to come into conflict with the views of their Conservative partners - E.g the LibDems were allowed to abstain in votes on the construction of new nuclear power stations, tax allowances for married couples and higher education funding

Front 6

Exceptions to collective responsibility - examples 2

Back 6

. Since 1945, it has proved necessary to suspend collective responsibility during both referendum campaigns on the troubled issue of Britain's membership of the EU

. In 1975, Labour PM Harold Wilson recognised that, in order to prevent resignations by anti-Europeans, he had to allow ministers to campaign on both sides of the argument

. In spring 2016, David Cameron, faced with an equally divided Conservative Party, reluctantly agreed to suspend collective responsibility on the European issue

Front 7

Resignations during the coalition government 1

Back 7

. In 2010, David Laws, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, claimed parliamentary expenses to pay rent to his partner

. In 2011, the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, allowed a personal friend to accompany him as an adviser to official meetings

. In 2012, the Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell, was accused of insulting policemen on duty in Downing Street

. In 2012, the Energy and Climate change Secretary, Chris Huhne, was charged with perverting the course of justice over an earlier speeding prosecution

Front 8

Resignations during the coalition government 2

Back 8

. In 2014, the Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, had parliamentary expenses claims related to family home

. In 2014, the Minister of State at Foreign Office and Minister for Faith and Communities, Baroness Warsi, disagreed with government policy on the Israel-Gaza conflict