This chapter examines the structure and role of central government, with the latter part focusing on the key constitutional requirement that the government is accountable to the people through Parliament, reflecting the democratic nature of the constitution. The phrase ‘central government’ refers to the Prime Minister, Cabinet, ministers, government departments, and civil servants. Informally, these parts of central government are often referred to as ‘Whitehall’, reflecting how most government departments and the Prime Minister are based around that area of central London close to Westminster. A more constitutionally appropriate phrase is the ‘executive’. However, this term can also be taken to mean other elements which include the governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, as well as local government and organizations such as the police.
Chapter
7. Central government
Chapter
13. Justice in the Modern Administrative State
Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter discusses the role of a range of accountability methods to scrutinize the executive’s use of power. This includes the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, who is now also known as the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the role of tribunals in contrast to courts, of public inquiries and of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms too. It also examines the limitations of each of these methods, and how they may complement each other to provide different forms of scrutiny.
