Executive

• The branch of government responsible for policy making, and for implementing the laws passed by the legislative branch

  Executive branch
• Name for the most senior ministers, who discuss and make key decisions, alongside the Prime Minister, at the very top of the government hierarchy

  The Cabinet
• Convention that ministers must publicly support Cabinet decisions or resign, and that all ministers should resign following a vote of no confidence

  Collective responsibility
• Blanket term used to refer to anyone who holds power within a political system

  Political leadership
• A system of government where the cabinet is the central collective decision making body of government

  Cabinet government
• The constitutional convention that ministers are responsible, and will be held accountable, for their own, and their department’s, actions

  Individual ministerial responsibility
• When a prime minister is seen as the main spokesperson for the government, with their own source of advice and appearance of separate authority

  Presidentialism
• A system of government where the prime minister, rather than the cabinet, dominates policy making and the operation of the government

  Prime ministerial government
• The theory that power within the executive is dispersed across a network of key individuals, offices, departments and agencies, relying on cooperation

  core executive
• The power to appoint individuals to, and dismiss them from, important political positions

  patronage
• Permanent staff, employed by government departments to support ministers with administrative work and provide neutral advice and expertise

  civil servants
• the constitutional principle that civil servants must give advice and expertise that is free from ideological judgement or political views

  civil service neutrality
• feature of the civil service that means that, unlike government ministers, civil servants do not change with a change of government

  civil service permanence
• feature of the civil service that means they are not often seen in the public limelight, as ministers will defend the department’s policies in public

  civil service anonymity
• feature of the civil service that means that the advice given to ministers is private, and that civil servants must sign the Official Secrets Act

  civil service confidentiality
• where positions of power are awarded based on talent and ability, rather than political views or party affiliation - associated with the civil service

  meritocracy
• civil service guidelines, limiting the evidence they give to select committees, designed to protect their impartiality, anonymity, & confidentiality

  Osmotherly rules
• The head of the UK Government, who is ‘primus inter pares’ in the Cabinet

  Prime minister
• the term used when the prime minister changes the composition of ministers in the cabinet

  cabinet reshuffle
• temporary and partisan appointments, made by ministers, with the approval of the prime minister to work alongside, assist and advise them

  special advisers
• theory put forward by Michael Floey that some prime ministers seek to put distance between themselves and their party to gain public support

  spatial leadership
• small groups of cabinet ministers, established by the Prime Minister, which meet regularly to discuss a particular policy area and make decisions

  Cabinet committees
• title usually held by Cabinet Ministers in charge of Government Departments

  Secretary of State
• Government ministers who are junior to secretaries of state, and do not usually sit in the cabinet

  Minister of State
• the most senior civil servant within a government department, responsible for running the department on a day-to-day basis

  Permanent under Secretary of State
• the idea that the working of government should be made more transparent, and easier for parliament and the public to see and scrutinise

  Open government
• term associated with Tony Blair, who was said to prefer to discuss issues with individual ministers in No.10 rather than hold full Cabinet meetings

  Sofa government
• Term used to describe small, informal meetings between the Prime Minister and select ministers, advisors and officials

  Kitchen cabinet
• meetings between two people, usually used to refer to meetings between the prime minister and a particular government minister

  Bilateral meetings
• a term of meaning ‘rule of officials’ often used to refer to the civil servants who implement government policy 


  Bureaucracy
• a special adviser employed to give positive interpretations of events to the media, and promote a positive party image

  Spin doctor
• parts of government departments that carry out executive functions, usually services, with a degree of autonomy from ministers, e.g. UK Border Agency

  Executive agencies
• Government departments that do not have their ow minister, and are instead usually headed by a statutory board, e.g. Food Standards Agency, OFSTED

  Non-ministerial departments
• State funded organisations that are not controlled by government - perform admin, commercial, regulatory & executive functions, e.g. Parole Board

  Non-departmental public bodies
• Government ministers who are junior to ministers of state, and are not members of the cabinet

  Parliament under secretaries of state
• Government department with over 2,000 civil servants, responsible for supporting the Prime Minister, Deputy PM, Cabinet and Cabinet Committees


  Cabinet office
• Senior civil servants and special advisers based at 10 Downing Street, who give policy advice and support with communications

  Prime Minister’s office
• The most senior civil servant in the country - provides policy advice to PM and Cabinet

  Cabinet Secretary
• Term used to refer to meetings of the PM, Deputy PM, Chancellor and Chief Secretary to the Treasury during the 2010-15 coalition government

  The Quad