Ministers: Appointments, Titles, Powers and Responsibilities

Nomination and Titles of Ministers

1. The Prime Minister nominates the members of the Government. By appointing certain members of the Administration to Ministerial offices upon whose holders functions have been conferred, the Crown vests them with power and responsibility to discharge those functions on its behalf. The Ministerial offices in question are generally those whose holders are the senior Ministers of Government departments (e.g. Secretaries of State).

2. In the main, specific functions will have been attached in statute to a Minister by Parliament. Ministers may also discharge functions on behalf of the Crown by virtue of powers and privileges derived from the Royal Prerogative. Besides exercising statutory and prerogative powers, Ministers of the Crown may also do anything which they are not precluded from doing, provided that Parliament has granted the money.

3. Junior Ministers (e.g. Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries) do not normally exercise functions in their own right.

4. The responsibilities of junior Ministers within a department are usually allocated to them by the senior Minister at the head of the department to which they have been assigned, and their duties within the department may normally be altered by the senior Minister without reference to the Prime Minister. Certain junior Ministers, however, may be known by descriptive titles which indicate the range of responsibilities which they have been given. Such “courtesy” titles have no legal basis or effect. They are conferred with the approval of the Prime Minister, whose consent should be sought to any major intra-departmental re-allocation of responsibilities which affects the validity of a title, to any change in such titles, or to the adoption of new titles.

Appointment of Ministers

5. Ministers and officials should note that, in some cases, there are various formalities to be completed after a Minister’s appointment has been approved by Her Majesty and announced by the Prime Minister’s Office.

6. For example, Secretaries of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Lord Privy Seal are sworn in the presence of The Queen in Council and receive their Seals of Office from the Queen in Council; the Lord Chancellor receives the Great Seal from the Queen in Council; and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster receives his/her Seal of Office from The Queen.

7. The formalities of the arrangements for Seals and swearing in are arranged by the Clerk of the Privy Council directly with the Palace and the Ministers concerned.

8. Arrangements are made for outgoing Ministers to cease being paid from the date of announcement, and incoming Ministers to be paid without either overlap or interval.

Performance of Ministerial functions during vacancies or other transitions

9. Care needs to be taken before Junior Ministers or officials take action on behalf of a Secretary of State or other Ministerial Head of Department when the office is vacant following an election, death in office, or resignation. Similar considerations apply to action taken by a Ministerial Head of Department or by Junior Ministers when any of the formalities mentioned in paragraph 5 above have still to be completed.

10. There is a possibility in such circumstances that the validity of an instrument made or action taken will be successfully challenged in proceedings for judicial review or other legal proceedings, and it is essential that legal advice is taken before any such step. Immediately following a General Election, the Cabinet Secretary should also be consulted in such cases.

11. Because of the diversity between the positions of different Ministers, there are no simple rules. The overriding rule of practice must be to seek legal advice where action has to be taken in the name of the Minister, usually under statutory powers, in such circumstances. It may be that any problem can be overcome in another way. Relevant considerations will include the following:

12. In most cases practical difficulties should not arise because any vacancy or transitional period is likely to be of limited duration.

New responsibilities

13. The responsibilities with which a Minister is entrusted on taking office will also include potential responsibility for new issues coming within that particular field. When such issues fall wholly within one Minister’s remit, it is normally clear who should take the responsibility. Occasionally, however, an issue will arise which bears little relationship to the existing structure of Ministerial functions; or, alternatively, several Ministers may have a functional interest in the same topic. On such occasions it will usually be clear from the existing content of Ministerial portfolios which Minister should take responsibility for the new problem; but in cases of doubt (particularly when there is disagreement) the Prime Minister should in the last resort be asked to rule which Minister is to take responsibility. (Normally this will not involve a transfer of functions, although a transfer may be consequential on the Prime Minister’s decision).

14. In cases of difficulty or disagreement about such matters at official level, the department concerned should consult Central Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. If Ministers disagree or difficulties persist, the senior Minister concerned should approach the Prime Minister, who may seek the advice of the Head of the Home Civil Service.

Transfers of functions

15. The entry on Machinery of Government Changes gives more detailed guidance on the handling of proposals for machinery of government changes, and on the implementation of any transfer of functions which the Prime Minister may approve.