Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written statement – made at on 30 November 2006.
Margaret Beckett
Foreign Secretary
The Cabinet Office launched the new civil service code on
The code of Ethics in Diplomatic Service Regulations (DSR) and Home Service Regulations (HSR) derives from the civil service code. This code has been revised to reflect the new civil service code.
A copy of the new regulations will be placed in the Library of the House.
See "placed in the library".
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
