Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 24 February 2022.
Kieran Mullan
Conservative, Crewe and Nantwich
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking through the GREAT campaign to promote the UK overseas.
Michael Ellis
Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Attends Cabinet), Paymaster General
The GREAT campaign promotes the best of the UK worldwide and has been used in over 145 countries to drive employment, growth and influence. GREAT delivers via five primary campaigns:
Overall UK Perceptions, led by the Cabinet Office and delivered with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (GREAT Challenge Fund). This campaign uses our soft power assets to grow UK influence and promote UK values by positioning the UK as a place of opportunity. It promotes UK culture, the UK’s science and sustainability credentials, creativity and design, LGBTQ+ rights and much more. It also supports events including the Queen’s Jubilee, the Commonwealth Games and Unboxed.
Tourism, delivered by VisitBritain. This campaign attracts international visitors to the UK, helping to support 3.2 million jobs and grow the UK’s position as one of the most visited countries on earth.
Trade and Investment, delivered by the Department for International Trade. This campaign drives investment and export promotion. It also promotes UK food and drink such as Welsh lamb, Scotch whisky, Northern Irish gin, and Scottish salmon through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Study, delivered by the British Council. The Study UK campaign promotes UK universities to the world and encourages international students to study in the UK.
Live/work, this campaign attracts the best and brightest in science, research and technology to live and work in the UK. It supports the UK government's ambition to secure the UK’s status as a science and tech superpower by 2030 including the Government commitment to increase R&D expenditure to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
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.
The Chancellor - also known as "Chancellor of the Exchequer" is responsible as a Minister for the treasury, and for the country's economy. For Example, the Chancellor set taxes and tax rates. The Chancellor is the only MP allowed to drink Alcohol in the House of Commons; s/he is permitted an alcoholic drink while delivering the budget.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
