6th Report - Executive oversight and responsibility for the UK constitution

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government shares the Committee's view of the strengths of the UK's constitutional arrangements, agrees there is value in a centre of expertise on constitutional matters, and does not support passing responsibility for the constitution to a single Minister.

• On the Propriety and Constitution Group, the government "agrees there is value in an established centre of expertise" on constitutional matters, noting that the Group draws on available precedent and expertise held by other departments.
• It "does not support passing responsibility for the constitution to a single Minister", stating that responsibility is "shared across a number of Ministers and departments each with their own expertise".
• On recording constitutional considerations in write-round papers, it says it is for the incumbent government to determine the content and format of papers, and that it does not disclose specific details of collective decision-making processes.
• On ethics bodies, it is "committed to keeping our ethics bodies under review", and notes that the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards may now initiate an investigation without the Prime Minister's consent.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error