Gov't & Public Affairs

• Sovereign Grant Act 2011


  Introduced a streamlined funding regime for the reigning sovereign and their immediate family (the "Royal Household")
• The sovereign grant supplanted a more complex system that had incorporated some elements that had existed for centuries
• Civil list


  Originated in the Bill of Rights with William and Mary's accession; Parliament voted to pay the Royal Household £600K to aid it in civil government
• Civil list became more formalized during King George III's reign - 1760
• In return for the King surrendering to Parliament

  Hereditary revenues (profit generated by the Crown Lands)
• Hereditary revenues


  Profit generated by the Crown Lands (estates previously owned by the monarch)
• All other senior royals performing official duties received annuities from the Privy Purse instead of the civil list
• Grants-in-aid


  Money covering the maintenance costs of "occupied royal palaces" and the royal's travel costs
• The remaining budget went to royal communications: letters, telephone bills, and more
• Civil List and grants-in-aid designed to enable the Monarch to finance future repairs to palaces without need for further public subsidy
• Any money left from the sovereign grant in a given year is paid into a reserve fund by the Royal Trustees
• Privy Purse


  Income generated by the Duchy of Lancaster – a huge piece of land and the sole surviving Crown Estate still owned by the monarch (over 19k acres)
• The Privy Purse is administered by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• Senior Royal Family members are free to generate their own earnings – provided they pay income tax (e.g. military salaries, sales of produce from the Duchy of Cornwall)
• The Monarch pays indirect taxes – value added tax (VAT) and other tariffs levied on consumer goods and services
• The Monarch voluntarily pays council tax
• The Privy Purse pays tax and the King's personal estate incurs inheritance tax
• Sovereign grant is untaxed along with any property transfer "from "sovereign to sovereign"
• Pandemic: loss of income from visitors to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle was one of many factors contributing to an overall year-on-year shortfall of £14.6m
• Prime Minister


  Primus inter pares = "first among equals" and is the most powerful individual in the government
• Powers of the PM are not codified in the constitution
• How powerful a PM is:


  Dependent on circumstances and your control of your political party, as well as how popular you happen to be and whether you have a majority in parliament
• Cabinet hierarchy


  • Prime Minister
  • Chancellor
  • Foreign Secretary
  • Home Secretary
  • Health Secretary & Education Secretary
  • "Lesser" Secretaries
  • Chief Whip
  • Attorney General
• Collective responsibility


  All ministers accept responsibility collectively for decisions made in Cabinet and committees, is the main convention influencing the operation of the Cabinet
• Ministers must not vote against executive policy, cannot publicly disagree with executive policy, and all decisions are unanimous (no leaking or briefing)
• Any cabinet position can be changed, merged or abolished by the PM
• With an absence of collective decision-making, ministers could then argue that they're not bound by collective responsibility
• The Prime Minister will most likely disagree with ministers breaking collective responsibility principles
• Aspects of individual ministerial responsibility


  • Account to parliament for their own personal conduct and department actions
  • Explanatory accountability (must explain why things are not going well)
  • Amendatory or "remedial" accountability (state how the problem will be fixed)
  • Culpability (resignation) -- take the credit when things go well or the blame when things go wrong
• Royal prerogative


  Legal powers which don't require parliamentary authority
• Powers of the Prime Minister


  • Determines executive composition (who is in their cabinet)
  • Chair cabinet meetings (what's discussed, who speaks, how long, etc.)
  • Leads on domestic/foreign policy
  • Controls parliamentary voting
  • Leads party (can control parliament with the majority)
  • Communicator-in-chief – media role (most well-known government representative)
• Under the royal prerogative, the PM has certain powers devolved from the monarch (signing treaties or going to war)
• First Minister of Scotland


  Able to fire and hire cabinet members, responsible for the overall development, implementation and presentation of the administration's policies and for promoting and representing Scotland at home and overseas, able to appoint other ministers (Deputy First Minister) and cabinet secretaries from among MSPs, chairs the Scottish cabinet
• Ombudsman


  Appointed by the Office for Legal Complaints to run an independent scheme that resolves complaints about lawyers in a fair and effective way
• The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was passed before the Labour party was elected


  1997
• FOI first implemented in 2002 with public right to access in 2005
• FOI Act

  Regulated by an Information Commissioner, applies to over 100,000 public bodies including local government, councils, government departments, the police, and NHS
• FOI requests must be made in writing and public bodies have a statutory obligation to provide information (no obligation on what must be publicised)
• Rights to access under FOI


  Any information in the possession of, or held on behalf of, a public authority, provided that is held for the purposes and interests of that authority can be requested
• You're entitled to be informed in writing about the decision that's been made on your FOI, and you must receive the information within 20 days