Unit 1 The Government

The modern government is arranged in about fifteen departments, each with its ministerial head, normally entitled, for example, ‘Secretary of State for Social Services’. The number of departments changes from time to time, as they are split or joined together. Normally, all the heads of departments are members of the House of Commons, though sometimes one is in the House of Lords. Nearly every head of department has under him one, two or three ‘ministers of state’, and at a lower level one, two or three ‘parliamentary under-secretaries’. Altogether there are about fifty ministers of these lower ranks. About forty of them are MPs of the government’s party, chosen by the Prime Minister for promotion from the ‘back benches’ one of the House of Commons (which are used by MPs not holding ministerial offices) to join the government on the front bench. About ten others are members of the House of Lords.

The Cabinet consists of the sixteen to twenty - four senior ministers whom the Prime Minister has appointed as members of it. These are the heads of the departments, together with a few others. The cabinet meets about once a week in Number 10 Downing Street, a rather ordinary-looking house which also contains the Prime Minister’s personal office. He or she lives on the top floor. Number 10 is not really as small as it looks: there are big extensions behind the house, and the whole group of buildings is used by the Cabinet Secretariat as well as the Prime Minister’s own civil service group and political officers.

There is no constitutional definition of the cabinet, which is in fact the politically active section of a much bigger and older institution, the Privy Council, which now has about 400 members. All cabinet ministers and judges in the Court of Appeal become members of the Privy Council for life, along with various other office holders and some individuals to whom membership is given as an honour. It still has some formal functions. Certain governmental decrees have to be promulgated by it. Each meeting consists of the Monarch and any three members of the Council.

The cabinet makes the main decisions about government policy, as well as some others about which individual ministers disagree. Its agenda and proceedings are secret, though individual ministers sometimes give some indications to journalists about what has happened. There are many cabinet committees, some permanent and meeting regularly. Other committees are set up to deal with special problems. Each of these committees includes ministers from relevant departments. Although they are commonly described collectively as ‘ministers’, nearly all the heads of departments have the official titles of ‘Secretary of State’. The minister in charge of finance still has the archaic title ‘Chancellor of the Exchequer’, and the Lord Chancellor performs most of the functions appropriate to a minister of Justice. Several other archaic offices survive, but are now used for new purposes. The Lord President of the Council (id. the Privy Council) has in recent years been Leader of the House of Lords, and the Lord Privy Seal has been Leader of the House of Commons. These two are in charge of the management of business in their respective Houses.

There are also other positions on the fringe of the government, held by MPs or peers. Two MPs of the party in power are appointed Law Officers for England, two for Scotland. Then the three are Whips in both Houses, concerned with the organisation of the timetable of business in Parliament, as well as with the maintenance of party solidarity.

No minister of any rank is allowed to indicate disagreement with any aspect of settled government policy, either in Parliament or on any public platform outside. If even a junior minister should criticise government policy the local press will report his indiscretion, the Opposition will hear of it, and in the next week the Prime Minister will have to answer an embarrassing question in the House of Commons. If any minister disagrees with the Government’s policy he must hide his disagreement and give his loyal support.

The requirement of ministerial solidarity does not extend to matters about which the Government’s policy is to leave the decision to a free vote of the House of Commons, with each individual MP voting according to his own preference. Until recently such exceptions were rare, except in matters commonly seen to involve personal conscience or religious sentiment.

A minister who resigns through disagreement with the Government’s policy may give reasons, and thereafter criticise his colleagues from the parliamentary back benches. Resignation often ends a person’s career as a leading politician, but not in every case. It is probably more dangerous to resign on behalf of moderation than against it.

Her Majesty’s Government is matched, or shadowed, by Her Majesty’s Opposition. The informal arrangements assume a two-party system. The Leader of the opposition is paid a special state salary, and appoints MPs and a few peers of his party to a “shadow cabinet”, as well as others as the shadow ministers below the equivalent of the cabinet rank. The main task of the shadow ministers is to criticise the Government. They are assumed to agree with all opposition policies and expected to support them, or otherwise to resign and return to the back branches. When the Labour or Conservative Party forms the Opposition their shadow ministers are mostly elected by the parties’ MPs for the duration of an annual session of Parliament. But the Leaders allocate the people to their departmental jobs.

Shadow ministers are helped by their party organisations and research staffs, but the ministers in office are more substantially equipped, each with a whole hierarchy of civil servants.

Notes*

to entitle, v. - давати право to be entitled to - мати право на an ordinary-looking man, house - звичайна людина, будинок preposterous [pri'pɔst(ə)rəs] - безглуздий, абсурдний; який суперечить здоровому глузду аn office holder - людина, яка очолює заклад, установу to promulgate, v. - обнародувати, опублікувати proceedings - тут протоколи on the fringe - бути на краю, межі maintenance, n. - підтримка, утримування to allocate, v. - розміщувати, асигнувати

promotion, n. - підвищення в чині to promote, v. - підвищувати, просувати по слyжбі Privy Council - таємна рада privy councilor - член таємної ради privy seal - мала державна печатка to stultify [ˈstʌltɪfʌɪ] - виставляти в смішному вигдяді; робити безглуздим, марним a decree, n. – декрет agenda, n. - порядок денний appropriate, adj. - відповідний party in power - партія при владі embarrassing question - важке питання back benchers - ті, що сидять на задніх лавах (у Британському парламенті)

Talking Points*

How is the modern government arranged?

What’s the structure of the Cabinet?

Is there any constitutional definition of the Cabinet?

What does the Cabinet make?

What are other positions on the fringe of the government held by MPs?

Is a minister of any rank allowed to indicate disagreement with government policy?

What’s the role of the Opposition?

It’s interesting to know that…

Education in Great Britain is provided by the Local Education Authority in (LEA) each county. It is partly financed by the government and partly by the local rates (a kind of property tax). Educational planning and organization are not controlled as much by central government as in other countries. Each LEA is free to decide how to organize education in the area.

It seems likely the school-leaving age will have been raised to 18, though compulsory attendance will not be enforced until 2013-15. The absence rate for year 11 pupils (aged 15-16) is currently over 10% and in 'schools facing challenging circumstances' even higher - leading some to argue that the leaving age should be reduced to 14 from the current 16. They claim the legislation will result simply in 'warehousing' truculent youth rather than producing the workers of tomorrow. Current participation rates in post-16 education and training have hardly shifted since the early 1990s. The introduction of legal compulsion can be seen as a 'final effort' to reach the reluctant 23% of 16-18s who don't do any education or training once they leave school. It is probable that the 'final few' will be fairly resistant to legal penalties for not attending their post-16 courses - so is it a realistic policy? Raising the school leaving age has always been part of a wider economic and social policy aimed at boosting the skills and employability of young people and reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and delinquency.

Nursery education (under 5 years). Schooling is compulsory in England for children of 5 to 15 of age. Children do not have to go to school until they reach the age of five, but there’s some free nursery-school education before that age. However, LEAs do not have nursery school places for all who would like them and these placers are given to families in special circumstances, e.g., families with one parent only. Because of the small number of nursery schools, parents in many areas have formed play groups where children under 5 years can go for a morning or afternoon a couple of times a week.

Education in England may differ from the system used elsewhere in the United Kingdom. There are two systems: one covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland and one covering Scotland. The two education systems have different emphases. The English, Welsh and Northern Irish system has emphasised depth of education, the Scottish system has emphasised breadth.

Unit 2

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