Ministers, departments and the civil service

Abstract

In the last chapter the focus was on the central direction and coordination of policy in Britain by the core executive, with particular reference to the prime minister and the Cabinet. However, the proportion of departmental decisions that are either sufficiently important or controversial to be taken to Cabinet has become very small indeed, and the vast majority of governmental decisions are made in departments. Not only do departments take the bulk of decisions — from the relatively minor to the undeniably major — it is no accident that they do so. For whenever new responsibilities are created by legislation, Parliament confers them squarely upon departments. New powers developed by statute are given to ministers, not to the Cabinet or the prime minister. The political and administrative importance of departments stems directly from their legal-constitutional pre-eminence. How decisions are taken within departments is consequently of vital significance in British government.