King Charles III
29-716: The Civil Contingencies Committee is a British cabinet committee chaired by the Home Secretary . It is intended to deal with major crises such as terrorism or natural disasters . It is supported by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat , which is part of the Cabinet Office . The Civil Contingencies Committee is held in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, giving the committee its popular name COBRA. However, this
58-653: A coalition government that consisted of members of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats , with Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister . Following the vote to leave at the EU referendum on the morning of 24 June, Cameron said that he would resign as Prime Minister after a new Leader of the Conservative Party was chosen after the party conference in the autumn. It
87-538: A central role in the allocation of government money to departments. It originated in 1981 under the informal title of "Star Chamber" as an ad hoc committee (MISC 62) which could handle appeals over spending disputes, rather than having these be dealt with by the full Cabinet. An appeal to Cabinet was still possible, but this right was rarely exercised. The original name refers to the Star Chamber court noted for its secret, arbitrary and brutal decisions. The committee
116-535: A parallel Cabinet for military policy which existed from 1904 until 1939, included ministers, heads of the armed services, and civil servants. Between 1997 and 2001, there was a Ministerial Consultative Committee with the Liberal Democratic Party which included senior Liberal Democrats as well as Labour ministers. Until 1992, the list of cabinet committees, their membership, and their terms of reference were secret, with rare exceptions. During
145-558: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . British cabinet committee [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The British government
174-574: Is directed by the Cabinet , a group of senior government ministers led by the Prime Minister . Most of the day-to-day work of the Cabinet is carried out by Cabinet committees , rather than by the full Cabinet. Each committee has its own area of responsibility, and their decisions are binding on the entire Cabinet. The details of the committee structure and membership are at the discretion of
203-588: Is needed. When the Prime Minister is unable to attend Cabinet or the chair and any deputy chair of a Cabinet committee are absent, the next most senior minister in the ministerial ranking should take the chair. Committee membership is limited to ministers, but non-ministers may attend in some cases. In particular, the National Security Council is routinely attended by senior military, intelligence and security officials. Members of
232-577: Is not an official name, even if it is sometimes used by officials. The Civil Contingencies Committee, through the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, operates a website, UK Resilience , which is intended as a central source of public information on British civil defence and disaster preparedness activities. This article related to the politics of the United Kingdom , or its predecessor or constituent states,
261-621: Is the "lead" for the emergency in question. That subcommittee however has disestablished as of 2021. During the post-Second World War period, in addition to standing committees, there were ad hoc committees that were convened to handle a single issue. These were normally short-lived. Each was given a prefix of Gen or Misc and a number. Gen 183, for example, was the Committee on Subversive Activities. Between 1945 and 1964, Gen (for general) committees were sequentially numbered from 1 to 881 in order of formation. Committee minutes and papers follow
290-495: The Government Secure Intranet ). Notes taken at meetings for the purpose of preparing the official minutes are destroyed once the minutes have been written. The minutes do not generally link points made in discussion to the specific people who made them. Future governments may not be permitted to see the cabinet papers of their predecessors, if there has been a change of party. Access in this case requires
319-624: The Second World War , details of the War Cabinet structure were communicated to Parliament; Winston Churchill had previously announced a Standing Committee on National Expenditure in his 1925 Budget statement. The existence and membership of the Defence and Overseas Policy Committee was announced in 1963, coinciding with the amalgamation of the service ministries into a single Ministry of Defence . Margaret Thatcher confirmed
SECTION 10
#1732798393193348-556: The Cabinet Office in November 2022. In addition to cabinet committees there are five Mission Boards on growth, clean energy, safer streets, opportunities and health. The Mission Boards are chaired by the respective lead Secretaries of State with a remit to oversee the relevant mission. There are several committees for which the Cabinet Office is administratively responsible, but which are not Cabinet committees. These include
377-545: The Prime Minister . The Prime Minister is free to reorganize committees, assign responsibilities, and can appoint or dismiss committee members freely. The sole limitation is the requirement that Cabinet ministers must be sworn members of the Privy Council , since the Cabinet itself is a committee of the Privy Council. Although there have been many changes since the Cabinet committee system was first developed in
406-489: The Prime Minister's office – including the Prime Minister themselves – may attend any committee. The Prime Minister's attendance does not mean that they will chair the committee, despite being the most senior Cabinet member present, though they may choose to do so. In the 2010 coalition government , each Cabinet committee included members of both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats . Furthermore,
435-583: The allocation each department is to receive. The Legislation committee allocates time for government bills to be considered in Parliament , coordinates the writing and handling of these bills in general, and is responsible for the Queen's Speech . Previously, there had been two committees, one for considering future legislation and another to deal with bills during their passage through Parliament. Departments who wish to make new primary legislation must apply to
464-530: The approval of the former Prime Minister, or of the Leader of the Opposition . The few exceptions relate to papers of an expressly non-political nature, such as legal advice or international agreements. Retired ministers wishing to write their memoirs are given access to papers from their tenure, but are usually not allowed to borrow them from the Cabinet Office archive. This table follows the document issued by
493-603: The committee for a slot in the legislative programme , as well as obtaining clearance from the relevant policy committee. In an emergency, the National Security Council (Threats, Hazards, Resilience and Contingencies) subcommittee can meet in an operational configuration. This arrangement was previously named as the Civil Contingencies Committee . In this case, the chair is taken by the minister for whichever government department
522-600: The continuing existence of this committee in the House of Commons in 1979, along with standing committees for Economic Strategy, Home and Social Affairs, and Legislation. The secrecy was due to the concern that public knowledge of Cabinet procedure would lead to a loss of faith in collective responsibility (if it became known that only a subset of the Cabinet had been involved in making a given decision) and undue pressure being put on committee chairs once their specific policy responsibilities became known. Whether decisions were made by
551-419: The early twentieth century, the committees for foreign and military policy, domestic policy, economic policy, and the government's legislative agenda have been more or less permanent fixtures. These and many other committees are standing committees , which have a broad remit; others are ad hoc committees , which are established to deal with specific matters. Ad hoc committees are rarer now than throughout most of
580-535: The entire Cabinet, or by a committee, is not revealed at present. Cabinet committees are shadowed by "official committees" made up of civil servants from the relevant departments. Official committees follow a thirty-year secrecy rule with respect to their existence and membership. Most committees exist for the coordination of policy in some specific area. Some committees, however, have a special role in managing government business, and accordingly have different procedures. The Public Expenditure Committee (PEX) plays
609-527: The general pattern was for committees to have a chair and a deputy chair, one from each party. There was a Coalition Committee, and an operational working group, to handle appeals over coalition disputes and to plan future policy. Former committees with non-ministers as full members include the Economic Advisory Council, whose membership was made up of a combination of ministers and experts in economics. The Committee of Imperial Defence ,
SECTION 20
#1732798393193638-622: The members). The 1939-45 figures do not include the Joint Intelligence Committee , Joint Planning Staff, or the Combined Chiefs of Staff . Second Cameron ministry David Cameron formed the second Cameron ministry , the first Conservative majority government since 1996, following the 2015 general election . Prior to the election Cameron had led his first ministry, the Cameron–Clegg coalition ,
667-574: The positions of Business Secretary , Energy Secretary , Scottish Secretary and Chief Secretary to the Treasury were given to Sajid Javid , Amber Rudd , David Mundell and Greg Hands respectively, with John Whittingdale replacing Javid as Culture Secretary . Mark Harper replaced Gove as Chief Whip , whilst Matthew Hancock became the new Minister for the Cabinet Office , being replaced by Anna Soubry as Minister of State for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise. Also Priti Patel became
696-566: The preceding ministry. Cameron's choices for other ministers were announced through the week. Eric Pickles , previously the Communities Secretary left the Cabinet and received a knighthood, being replaced by Greg Clark . Michael Gove moved to the position of Justice Secretary , replacing Chris Grayling , who became the new Leader of the House of Commons . Several vacant Cabinet posts previously held by Liberal Democrats were subsequently filled by Conservative ministers –
725-449: The same secrecy rules as for the full Cabinet. Documents are generally handled on a need-to-know basis, and so may not be available to ministers who do not serve on the relevant committee. Some materials may be classified as being available exclusively to the named members of the committee, and particularly sensitive papers may be kept in a secure room and read only under supervision. Papers may be distributed physically or electronically (via
754-416: The twentieth century. Many matters are now expected to be resolved bilaterally between departments, or through more informal discussion, rather than requiring the formation of a committee. The 2015 government introduced "Implementation Taskforces" to address specific cross-cutting priorities. These are to report to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Cabinet approval is still required if collective agreement
783-475: The various 'official' committees, which mostly shadow the Cabinet committees but with civil servants rather than ministers as members. Some others are: An approximate count of committees up to and during the Second World War was given by Wilson as follows. This excludes committees which did not have at least one meeting (several of these existed solely as a means for documents to be circulated among
812-549: Was announced on 11 July 2016 that he would resign on 13 July and be succeeded by Home Secretary , Theresa May . Cameron announced his choice for Chancellor of the Exchequer , Home Secretary , Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary on the afternoon of 8 May 2015, with George Osborne , Theresa May , Philip Hammond and Michael Fallon retaining their posts. Osborne was also given the honorific title of First Secretary of State , which had been held by William Hague in
841-478: Was made permanent under John Major , under the name "EDX", and placed under the chairmanship of the Chancellor of the Exchequer . From 1998 to 2010 the same committee (by then called "PX", and later "PSX") also monitored departments' fulfillment of Public service agreements . While such agreements are no longer used, the committee retains its role in examining departmental expenditure, and will advise Cabinet on
#192807