Cabinet Office

This article is about the Cabinet Office in the United Kingdom. For other Cabinet Offices, see Cabinet Office (disambiguation).
Cabinet Office
Welsh: Swyddfa'r Cabinet

Cabinet Office, Whitehall
Department overview
Formed December 1916
Preceding Department
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
Department executives
Child Department
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]

Other functions include oversight of the Crown Commercial Service and the accreditation of Social Impact Contractors.

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:

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. Oliver Letwin MP Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Overall responsibility, advising the Prime Minister on policy implementation, constitutional reform, infrastructure resilience, reducing regulation
The Rt Hon. Matthew Hancock MP Paymaster General
Minister for the Cabinet Office
Civil Service reform, public sector efficiency
Rob Wilson MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Big Society agenda; charities; volunteering; social enterprise, statistics
John Penrose MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State constitutional reform, elections and electoral registration, parliamentary boundaries, oversight of devolution, constitution, Crown affairs, political parties, referendums, democratic engagement
The Rt Hon. Robert Halfon MP Minister without portfolio

All of the Cabinet Office's ministers are Cabinet members; or are allowed to attend Cabinet when their brief is on the agenda.[8]

The Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service is Sir Jeremy Heywood; the Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of the Home Civil Service is John Manzoni.

The Cabinet Office also supports the work of:

Committees

Cabinet Committees have two key purposes:[9]

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.

Its main counterparts in the devolved nations are as follows:

Scotland

Northern Ireland [11]

Wales

See also

References

  1. "Annual Report 2013-2014" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  2. Budget 2011 (PDF). London: HM Treasury. 2011. p. 48. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  3. This should be distinguished from the Prime Minister's personal staff who form the Prime Minister's Office.
  4. "Cabinet Office List of Ministerial Responsibilities, July 2010" (PDF). Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  5. Note on development from National Archives
  6. "National Archive Series reference CAB 103". Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  7. "Our ministers". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  8. "Her Majesty's Government". UK Parliament. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  9. "A Guide to Cabinet and Cabinet Committee Business" (PDF). London: Cabinet Office. 2008: 44.
  10. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gcLH8zy3G0e4J5eWdMbzc8Tv-KWQ?docId=450a4764-49f0-4d5f-9501-5b4760b2aff4
  11. Departments (Transfer and Assignment of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cabinet Office.

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

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