Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 20 May 2026.
Alex Burghart
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the letter from the Cabinet Secretary to the Hon Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 25 April 2026, section 2, what was the reason why the Prime Minister's readout from the submission to appoint Lord Mandelson was not recorded, or the decision is not otherwise retained for the official record.
Nick Thomas-Symonds
The Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon Member to the Government's statement and release of information on 11th March, the statement made by the Prime Minister on 20th April, and the Government’s response to the debate of 21st April, providing an update on the response to the Humble Address. The Government is working to ensure that Parliament’s instruction is met with the urgency and transparency that it deserves.
Yes0 people think so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.
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.
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.
