Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office
Welsh: Swyddfa'r Cabinet

Cabinet Office, Whitehall
Department overview
Formed	December 1916
Preceding Department	Committee of Imperial Defence
Jurisdiction	United Kingdom
Headquarters	70 Whitehall, London, England
Employees	1,668[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
Department executives	Sir Jeremy Heywood, KCB CVO, Cabinet Secretary Richard Heaton, CB, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary
Child Department	Government Procurement Service
Website	www.gov.uk/cabinetoffice

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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.

Responsibilities

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

• Supporting the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister - to define and deliver the Government’s objectives, implement political and constitutional reform, and drive forward from the centre particular cross-departmental priority issues such as public service improvement, social exclusion and the third sector;
• Supporting the Cabinet - to drive the coherence, quality and delivery of policy and operations across departments; and
• Strengthening the civil service – to ensure the civil service is organised effectively and efficiently and has the capability in terms of skills, values and leadership to deliver the Government's objectives, including ensuring value for money to the taxpayer. This also includes working with the Treasury to drive efficiency and reform across the public sector.

Deputy Prime Minister

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

• introducing fixed term parliaments
• legislating to hold a referendum on the alternative vote system for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
• legislating to create fewer and more equal-sized constituencies
• supporting people with disabilities to become MPs
• introducing a power for people to recall their MP
• developing proposals for a wholly or mainly elected second chamber
• speeding up implementation of individual voter registration
• considering the West Lothian question
• introducing a statutory register of lobbyists
• reforming political party funding
• supporting all postal primaries

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 principal 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:

• The Historical Section was originally founded in 1906 as part of the Committee for Imperial Defence and is concerned with Official Histories^[6]
• The Joint Intelligence Committee was founded in 1936 and transferred to the department in 1957. It deals with intelligence assessments and directing the national intelligence organisations of the UK.
• The Ceremonial Branch was founded in 1937 and transferred to the department in 1981. It was originally concerned with all ceremonial functions of state, but today it handles honours and appointments.

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]

All of the Cabinet Office's ministers, excluding the two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries, are Cabinet members; or are allowed to attend Cabinet when their brief is on the agenda.^[8]

The Cabinet Secretary is Sir Jeremy Heywood; the Permanent Secretary is Richard Heaton; 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:

• the Leader of the House of Commons;
• the Leader of the House of Lords; and
• the Whips Office.

Committees

Cabinet Committees have two key purposes:^[9]

• To relieve the burden on the Cabinet by dealing with business that does not need to be discussed at full Cabinet. Appeals to the Cabinet should be infrequent, and Ministers chairing Cabinet Committees should exercise discretion in advising the Prime Minister whether to allow them.
• To support the principle of collective responsibility by ensuring that, even though a question may never reach the Cabinet itself, it will be fully considered. In this way, the final judgement is sufficiently authoritative that Government as a whole can be expected to accept responsibility for it. In this sense, Cabinet Committee decisions have the same authority as Cabinet decisions.

Buildings

The entrance to the Cabinet Office.

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 occupies other buildings in Whitehall and the surrounding area, including part of 1 Horse Guards, as well as sites in other parts of the country. In October 2013 during the St Jude storm, a crane collapsed on top of the Cabinet Office. This led to a closure of Whitehall.^[10]

Devolution

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

• political and constitutional reform
• the Home Civil Service
• the Electoral Commission
• the Boundary Commissions
• the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Its main counterparts in the devolved nations are as follows:

Scotland

• Office of the First Minister (supporting the Scottish Government cabinet)

Northern Ireland ^[11]

• Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (co-ordinating the Northern Ireland Executive)
• Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (social enterprise)
• Department of Finance and Personnel (the Northern Ireland Civil Service)
• Department for Social Development (civil society)

Wales

See also

• British Civil Service
• United Kingdom budget
• Prime Minister's Strategy Unit
• Social Exclusion Task Force
• Cabinet Office Briefing Room
• Public Sector Internal Identity Federation

References

External links

• Official website
• Cabinet Office official Twitter feed

Departments of Her Majesty's Government Ministerial Attorney General's Office Cabinet Office Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Department for Communities and Local Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport Department for Education Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department for International Development Department for Transport Department for Work and Pensions Department of Energy and Climate Change Department of Health Foreign and Commonwealth Office Her Majesty's Treasury Home Office Ministry of Defence Ministry of Justice Northern Ireland Office Office of the Advocate General for Scotland Office of the Leader of the House of Commons Office of the Leader of the House of Lords Scotland Office UK Export Finance Wales Office Non-ministerial Charity Commission for England and Wales Competition and Markets Authority Crown Prosecution Service Food Standards Agency Forestry Commission Government Actuary's Department Government Legal Department Her Majesty's Land Registry Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs National Crime Agency National Savings and Investments Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills Office of Gas and Electricity Markets Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation Office of Rail and Road Ordnance Survey Serious Fraud Office Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The National Archives UK Statistics Authority UK Trade & Investment Water Services Regulation Authority Category Commons

Downing Street Buildings 9 Downing Street (Chief Whip's Office) 10 Downing Street 11 Downing Street 12 Downing Street Cabinet Office Foreign and Commonwealth Office Privy Council Office Residence First Lord of the Treasury (Prime Minister) Second Lord of the Treasury (Chancellor of the Exchequer) Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Government Chief Whip) Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office Prime Minister's Office Parliamentary Private Secretary Principal Private Secretary Chief of Staff Press Secretary Director of Communications Prime Minister's Spokesman Policy Unit Strategy Unit Cabinet Office Deputy Prime Minister Minister for the Cabinet Office Cabinet Secretary Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary National Security Council Joint Intelligence Committee Parliamentary Counsel Office Head of the Home Civil Service Government Cabinet Cabinet Committees Cabinet Office Briefing Room Civil Contingencies Secretariat Efficiency and Reform Group Incidents Provisional IRA mortar attack (1991) Plebgate (2012)

Coordinates: 51°30′13″N 0°7′36″W / 51.50361°N 0.12667°W / 51.50361; -0.12667