Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written statement – made at on 26 March 2012.
David Lidington
The Minister for Europe
I regret to inform the House that there was an inaccuracy in the answer I gave to parliamentary question 85078 about staff pay to Mr Thomas,
Following my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury’s announcement of an urgent review of public appointments, to determine the extent of arrangements whereby the tax position is (or perceived to be) minimised, the FCO is undertaking a full review, including of our arm’s length bodies, to assess all our payroll arrangements. Full details of the review will be reported to the Cabinet Office.
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.
