Ministerial Responsibility

What are ministerial responsibilities? What is the difference between individual and collective ministerial responsibilities? These are both questions we will answer in this article. We will also explore some of the exceptions and strains placed on collective ministerial responsibility.

Meaning of ministerial responsibility

Ministerial responsibility entails the member's responsibility to the government and their responsibility to the prime minister. These responsibilities can be viewed from two perspectives – collective ministerial responsibility, and individual ministerial responsibility.

Collective ministerial responsibility

Collective ministerial responsibility is the responsibility that all members of the executive have as a group.

These include:

1. Confidentiality: all ministers take part in cabinet meetings, which are meetings that the prime minister holds to discuss important issues within various departments and to discuss how to handle matters such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Each minister must keep this information confidential by not speaking about it outside the meeting. The importance of this is to ensure that the public is not aware of the different opinions of the ministers, which at times can vary and can prevent the government from appearing united and strong.

2. Confidence votes: these are votes that take place when there is a large consensus in the belief that the leader in charge of the country is no longer fit or suitable to be the prime minister. The vote is carried out in the Houses of Parliament and a simple majority can result in the prime minister losing their job. But in the UK, the executive is both the prime minister and their cabinet, so if the prime minister loses confidence, they, alongside their cabinet, must resign from the position.

   In 1979, James Callaghan lost his leadership role after the Scottish devolution bill was defeated.

3. Binding decisions: this means that after discussing a bill or a decision, if it has been agreed on by a majority in the cabinet, then all cabinet ministers must vote in favour of it in parliament regardless of whether they are opposed to it or not. If they refuse to vote in consensus, then they are expected to resign or be dismissed by the prime minister.

   In 2002, Clare Short resigned due to her opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

Exceptions to collective ministerial responsibility

There are very few exceptions when collective ministerial responsibility does not need to be abided by.

1. During referendums: these are votes that take the form of a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question -- for example, whether Britain should exit the European Union. The prime minister commonly waves collective ministerial responsibility during referendums.

   In 2011, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives were free to vote on whether the UK should adopt the AV style for its general elections.

3. Free votes: these are the exceptional cases that prime ministers can choose. In a free vote, a minister does not need to carry out their collective ministerial responsibility. The vote can be on any issue.

   In 2013, David Cameron allowed a free vote on legalising same-sex marriage.

What are the strains on collective ministerial responsibility?

The system of collective ministerial responsibility is not perfect and there can be some problems that can occur and lead to strains.

These are:

1. Leaks: ministers are supposed to refrain from disclosing information about their meetings and opinions, especially if they are against a particular policy. However, some can be very frustrated and their advisers can leak information. This could be because they do not want to publicly expose their opposition to the government whilst at the same time showing that there is a difference of opinion within the government.

2. Presidential style government: this is when the prime minister acts as if he has the powers of a president, relying heavily on the prime minister's office in decision-making rather than working with cabinet members.

   Many cabinet ministers under the Thatcher and Blair governments claimed their prime ministers were acting with presidential powers. This led to dissatisfaction among the members of the cabinet.

3. Non-resignations: this is when a minister has gone against their collective ministerial responsibility but has not resigned and has not been dismissed.

   An example of non-resignations can be seen during Margaret Thatcher’s first cabinet when some members publicly defied her decisions. However, she only replaced them once she held a strong position within her party and the country.

Individual ministerial responsibility

Individual ministerial responsibility is the responsibility that individual ministers have upon themselves and their specific department. This can include how the department runs, how they work, and their conduct. Ministers also have the responsibility to abide by the ministerial code which sets the conduct standards that ministers must follow. If they break the ministerial code they should resign. However, this rule is not legally binding as can be seen with Priti Patel, who was found to have bullied her staff but did not resign from her position as Home Secretary.

However, there are cases when the minister does not take responsibility on behalf of their department, namely when a civil servant carries out an action that was not approved by the minister. If whatever went wrong can be traced back to being the fault of a civil servant, then often the minister will not take responsibility.

Differences between individual and collective ministerial responsibilities

On reflection, we can assume that ministers must abide by both their individual and collective ministerial responsibilities, which go hand in hand. In either situation, if a minister was found to have not carried out their responsibilities there can be serious consequences.