Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office
Logo of the Cabinet Office
Department overview
Formed December 1916
Preceding Department Committee of Imperial Defence
Jurisdiction United Kingdom
Headquarters 70 Whitehall, London, England
Employees 1963.26[1] FTE
Annual budget £2.1 billion (current) & £400 million (capital) for 2011-12 [2]
Minister responsible The Rt Hon. Francis Maude MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office
Website
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
United Kingdom

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The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom.[3] It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objectives via other departments. It currently has just over 2,000 staff, most of whom work in Whitehall. Staff working in the Prime Minister's Office are part of the Cabinet Office.

Contents

Responsibilities

The Cabinet Office's core functions are:[4]

Deputy Prime Minister

Within the department the Deputy Prime Minister has special responsibility for political and constitutional reform:

He also has policy responsibility for the Electoral Commission, the Boundary Commissions and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

History

The department was formed in December 1916 from the secretariat of the Committee of Imperial Defence[5] under Sir Maurice Hankey, the first Cabinet Secretary.

Traditionally the most important part of the Cabinet Office's role was facilitating collective decision-making by the Cabinet, through running and supporting Cabinet-level committees. This is still its principle role, but since the absorption of some of the functions of the Civil Service Department in 1981 the Cabinet Office has also helped to ensure that a wide range of Ministerial priorities are taken forward across Whitehall.

It also contains miscellaneous units that do not sit well in other departments. For example:

In modern times the Cabinet Office often takes on responsibility for areas of policy that are the priority of the Government of the time. The units that administer these areas migrate in and out of the Cabinet Office as government priorities (and governments) change.

Ministers

The Cabinet Office Ministers are as follows: [7]

Minister Rank Portfolio
The Rt Hon David Cameron MP Prime Minister
First Lord of the Treasury
Minister for the Civil Service
Head of government
The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP Deputy Prime Minister
Lord President of the Council
Deputy head of government, political and constitutional reform
The Rt Hon Francis Maude MP Minister for the Cabinet Office
Paymaster General
Civil Service, efficiency and reform
The Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP Minister of State Government policy, Coalition Agreement
The Rt Hon Baroness Warsi Minister of State
Minister without Portfolio
Chairman of the Conservative Party
Relations between government and Conservative Party
Mark Harper MP Parliamentary Secretary Political and constitutional reform
Nick Hurd MP Parliamentary Secretary Civil society
Key Conservative
Liberal Democrat

The Cabinet Secretary is Sir Jeremy Heywood; the Head of the Home Civil Service is Sir Bob Kerslake, who is concurrently also Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The Cabinet Office also supports the work of:

Committees

Cabinet Committees have two key purposes:[8]

Buildings

The main building of the Cabinet Office is at 70 Whitehall, adjacent to Downing Street and was built in 1847. Remains of Henry VIII's tennis courts from the Palace of Whitehall can be seen within the building.

The building was originally the Cockpit, used for cock fighting in the Tudor period. It was then converted into a private residence by Charles II for Princess Anne, the future Queen Anne, when she married in 1683. In 1689, both Anne and her closest friend (and later most influential adviser), Sarah, Lady Churchill were imprisoned here by James II after he lost support to Prince William of Orange in the period just before the Glorious Revolution. After Anne's accession in 1702, she gave the Cockpit to Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough and her husband, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. They were the last private residents before it became the Treasury, and was being used as a Cabinet office by 1719.

The department also occupies other buildings in Whitehall and the surrounding area (including 22 Whitehall and Admiralty Arch), as well as sites in other parts of the country.

Devolution

The Cabinet Office has the following responsibilities at a UK national level.

Its main counterparts in the devolved nations are as follows:

Scotland

Northern Ireland [9]

Wales

See also

Executive agencies

References

External links