About Cabinet Secretariat
Status
The Cabinet Secretariat is non-departmental in function and purpose.
It sits in the Cabinet Office, but serves the Prime Minister and Ministers
who chair committees. It only serves Cabinet Office Ministers in their role
as Committee Chairmen.
The head of the Secretariat is the Secretary of the Cabinet (Sir Gus
O'Donnell).
Structure and Purpose
The Secretariat is composed of six individual secretariats. Of these four
provide the main support to Cabinet and its Committees:
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Economic and Domestic Affairs (EDS);
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European (Euro);
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Defence and Overseas (OD);
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Civil Contingencies (CCS),
The two further secretariats Ceremonial; and Intelligence and Security
(ISS) have very separate roles. Although ISS does support one Cabinet
Committee as part of its remit.
The Cabinet Secretariat's overarching aim is to ensure that the
business of Government is conducted in a timely and efficient way and that
proper collective consideration takes place when it is needed before policy
decisions are taken. Through this work the Cabinet Secretariat contributes
to two of the Cabinet Office's overarching aims: to support the Prime
Minister in leading the government and to achieve coordination of policy
and operations across government.
However each Secretariat has its own separate remit and a short summary of
these are listed below. For more information, follow the links to
individual secretariat web pages and sites.
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The
Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat deals with all domestic
issues. It also manages the legislative programme, advises the Business
Managers on Parliamentary procedure, assists the Prime Minister and the
Secretary of the Cabinet in matters affecting the machinery of Government
and co-ordinates policy on public sector pay.
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The European Secretariat is responsible for the
co-ordination of EU business.
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The Defence
and Overseas Secretariat is responsible for co-ordinating the
formation of policy on a wide range of defence, security and foreign
policy issues. It also co-ordinates the Government's response
(military, economic and diplomatic) to crises overseas.
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The Civil
Contingencies Secretariat is responsible for improving the UK 's
resilience to disruptive challenges. It co-ordinates both strategy and
delivery and identifies potential disruptive challenges.
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The Ceremonial Secretariat is responsible for Honours policy
work across Government and the preparation of the Prime Minister's
half-yearly Honours List.
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The
Joint Intelligence and Security Secretariat (comprising the
Assessments Staff and Intelligence Support Secretariat) assesses
situations and issues of current concern on the basis of all sources of
information and advises the Secretary of the Cabinet on the co-ordination
of the intelligence machinery and its resources and programmes.
Each secretariat is organised as a separate management unit with its own
administrative support staff. Support staff contact Private Offices,
arrange meetings and handle day-to-day paperwork for Ministerial and
official committees.
Working with Number 10
There are close links between the secretariats and Number 10. These are
needed in the planning of business and to ensure that the Prime
Minister's views are taken into account, particularly where business
will not come before Cabinet or a Cabinet Committee which he chairs. The
secretariats work closely with the Number 10 private office and policy
directorate, the Strategy Unit and the Delivery Unit to prepare briefing
for the Prime Minister and to support his meetings.
Cabinet Committees:
The following links provide information on:
