Discussion, Coordination and Decision-making: The Changing Core Executive in British Government

• TAKAYASU Kensuke

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• 議論・調整・決定――戦後英国における執政府中枢の変容――

Abstract

The British cabinet system was conventionally based on ministerial responsibility and collective responsibility. While respective government-departments supported their ministers, who assumed ministerial responsibility, a government-wide system of coordination and information-sharing provided support for collective responsibility. This coordination and information-sharing system was often referred to as the core executive, and at the centre of this system were the prime minister's office,the cabinet office and the treasury. The conventional relationships amongst cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, were characterised as collegial. Although the prime minister as well as some cabinet ministers, such as the chancellor of the exchequer, the foreign secretary, and the home secretary, enjoyed higher status compared with other cabinet ministers, the relationships in cabinet were collegial and the prime minister was not the commanding officer of his/her cabinet ministers. The collegiality was also true for the relationships between the core executive and the government departments as well as the relationships amongst government departments. This collegiality within the British government seems to be changing. The Thatcher government arguably strengthened the power of the prime minister, yet the organisation and procedure that supported the prime minister had not changed substantially during this period. It was rather the Labour government that increased the power resources at the core of the core executive. The Labour government came into office in 1997 and immediately reorganised the core executive. The prime minister’s office, the cabinet office and the treasury increased the number of their political staff and the capability to propose policies and trace the output of government departments. The comprehensive spending review and the public service agreements started to function as a kind of contract between the core executive and the spending departments. During the Labour government it was not only the prime minister but also the chancellor of the exchequer who gained more power resources within government. Although the core executive, by definition, was a body, network and procedure for coordination and information-sharing, the core of the core executive enhanced its role to perform as a think tank of policy ideas, adviser to the prime minister and the chancellor of the exchequer, and enforcer of public service delivery. The development eventually reinforced the power of the core executive, and consequently undermined the position of other cabinet ministers and their departments. As the relationships changed in the British cabinet system, so did the nature of discussion in cabinet and between the core executive and the government departments.

Journal

• Journal of Public Policy Studies

  Journal of Public Policy Studies 9 (0), 23-34, 2010-01-31

  Public Policy Studies Association Japan

Keywords

• British politics
• core
• executive
• coordination
• collegiality

Details

• CRID: 1390845713075774336
• NII Article ID: 130007661668
• DOI: 10.32202/publicpolicystudies.9.0_23
• ISSN: 24345180
• ISSN: 21865868
• Text Lang: ja
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed