The role and status of the Prime Minister’s Office
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Closed
Inquiry
The status of the Prime Minister’s Office (“Number 10”) is opaque. The gov.uk website description says “the office helps the Prime Minister to establish and deliver the government’s overall strategy and policy priorities, and to communicate the government’s policies to Parliament, the public and international audiences.” Nominally, it is a …
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4
Recommendations
5
Conclusions
1
Report
2
Oral sessions
2
Events
Activity timeline 4 events
21 Sep
2021
2021
9 Jun
2021
2021
Report published
10 Nov
2020
2020
Oral evidence
13 Oct
2020
2020
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions
10 Nov 2020
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The role and status of the Prime Minister’s Office
Fiona Hill CBE · Future Resilience Forum
Jonathan Powell
Polly Mackenzie
Prof Sir Geoff Mulgan CBE
Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP
13 Oct 2020
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The role and status of the Prime Minister’s Office
Alex Thomas · Institute for Government
Dr Catherine Haddon
Dr Patrick Diamond
Reports 1 report · click to expand
| Title | HC No. | Published | Items | Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Report - The role and status of the Prime Minister’s Office | HC 67 | 9 Jun 2021 | 9 | Responded |
Recommendations & Conclusions
3 results
3
Conclusion
Rejected
First Report - The role and status…
The Office of the Prime Minister is nominally a business unit of the Cabinet Office.
The Office of the Prime Minister is nominally a business unit of the Cabinet Office. However, it currently it appears to operate with even less transparency than other Cabinet Office business units. The Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts do …
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Government Response
The government explains that narrative sections are not for all business units and that separating the Prime Minister's Office would be misleading due to its integrated relationship with the Cabinet, asserting the current approach is appropriate.
4
Recommendation
Rejected
First Report - The role and status…
We do not consider the status of the Office of Prime Minister as a business...
We do not consider the status of the Office of Prime Minister as a business unit to be an accurate reflection of the role that it plays. Yet it currently operates with even less transparency that this status suggests. For …
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Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation to report on the Prime Minister's Office activities as it does for other business units. It argues that doing so would be misleading and difficult due to the historical and ongoing close relationship and overlapping responsibilities between the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
5
Recommendation
Rejected
First Report - The role and status…
In its Single Departmental Plan, the objectives of supporting the Prime Minister should be disaggregated...
In its Single Departmental Plan, the objectives of supporting the Prime Minister should be disaggregated from the support provided to the Cabinet or the Government more generally.
Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that disaggregating the Prime Minister's support from the Cabinet's would be misleading and difficult due to their historically close relationship and overlapping responsibilities. They explain that the Annual Report and Accounts do not cover all business units.