Chapter 9 Executive Video 1 Who is the head of government? How are they appointed? What is the Prime Minister's Office? What support does it offer the PM in No. 10? What is the Cabinet? Who does it include? Who appoints its members? Why is it important? What are Cabinet Committees, sub- committees and implementation taskforces? What is the role of the Cabinet Office? What is the ministerial hierarchy within each ministerial department? What is the role of the Civil Service? How are civil servants different to ministers? Pre-chewed The Prime Minister is the head of Government. By convention, the Prime Minister must be an elected and accountable MP, rather than an unelected peer from the HOL. While other government ministers are each responsible for a particular policy area, the Prime Minister is instead responsible for the success of the government as a whole, and the Prime Minister's office includes a number of different units that support the Prime Minister as they try coordinate the work of the entire executive branch, ensuring that the government delivers on its top priorities: - Private Office- provides administrative support. - Policy unit- gives the PM policy advice/monitors the work of other departments. - Press office- handles relations with the media. - Political office- manages links with the parliamentary and national party. The Prime Minister appoints its members. The Cabinet- the main collective decision-making body of the government. In constitutional theory, policy decisions should be approved by the Cabinet, rather than the Prime Minister alone. The Cabinet usually meets once a week, and under the convention of collective responsibility, its policy decisions are binding on all government ministers. As the size and role of government grew throughout the 20th century, it became unrealistic for the full Cabinet to debate every policy matter. Therefore, Prime Ministers create specialist Cabinet Committees, and sub-committees, where relevant Cabinet ministers work together in smaller groups on specific policy areas. Implementation Taskforces- first used by PM David Cameron in 2015 to track the progress of key manifesto commitments that cut across various departments. Cabinet Office- over 2000 civil servants support the work of the Cabinet, Cabinet Committees, and the Prime Minister who is head of the Cabinet. The Cabinet office provides: - Administrative Support- timetables meetings, writes agendas, circulates minutes, writes briefings, ensures all ministers are prepared for Cabinet/committee meetings. - Collective Government- coordinates the development and implementation of policies that cut across multiple departments, resolves disputes between departments. Within each government department there are also many more junior ministers with their own specific responsibilities who serve under the Secretary of State. There are 24 Ministerial Departments (2020) with different numbers of ministers and vastly different numbers of civil servants. Within each department there is a clear hierarchy, and ministers have different titles to reflect how senior they are. 1) The most senior are Secretaries of State who have overall responsibility for the department. 2) Next there are the Ministers of State with responsibility for more specific policy areas. 3)