Constitutional and Administrative Law in the UK - Essay Example

The most senior members f the Cabinet are the Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor f the Exchequer, and Home Secretary. Also, Members of parliament who are 'Parliamentary Private Secretaries' - unpaid assistants to ministers - there are about 110 members f the Government in all. With this in mind, the Cabinet represents about one-fifth f the whole Government. All Cabinet ministers must be members f parliament, either the Commons or the Lords. Most come from the Commons, but there must be some members from the Lords who can represent Cabinet there.

Since the Lord Chancellor and Leader f the House f Lords are automatic members, there can be no fewer than two representatives from the Lords. The framework f the cabinet can be described as, " to take or review the major decisions (f Government), to consider (though not necessarily at the formative stage) any proposals which might affect the future of the Government, and to ensure that no departmental interests are overlooked, thus giving the work f the government a measure f unity" (Mackintosh, J.1977). The United Kingdom can be seen as a Cabinet government in that the Cabinet meet together as a collective body and discuss and debate on routine items, Parliamentary business, reports on foreign affairs and concerning government issues, and also new legislations.

Following discussion, decisions are made by the majority f the cabinet which then, if backed by the House f Commons, becomes Government policy. The members f the cabinet then follow a procedure known as 'collective responsibility in which all members are expected to support the decisions f the Cabinet whether or not he/she has private discrepancies against the outcome(s) and also that relevant decision is enforced by the officials in his/her department. As well as the Cabinet, there are also the Cabinet committees and the Cabinet office.

The cabinet committees were established due to the 'sheer volume and complexity f modern governmental business, the bulk f decisions within the Cabinet system are taken by the Cabinet committees (either ministerial standing committees or ministerial ad hoc committees).' There are many forms f committee but their basic functions are to deal with less complex matters on behalf f the cabinet, either to make decisions themselves or prepare information for, mainly, the Cabinet. The Cabinet Office is another system set up due to the volume f government business.

Its basic principles are to support the prime minister and the cabinet, to organize security and intelligence, etc.