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Sir Robin Butler has described ‘the accountability paradox’, where Parliament has more control over ministers through ministerial responsibility than it has over arm’s length bodies. Discuss the extent to which this is an accurate description.
You’ll find it helpful to see the online resources on arm’s length bodies here.
- Explain the importance of accountability of government to Parliament.
- Analyse how ministerial responsibility operates. What is the distinction between accountability and responsibility?
- How much control does Parliament have over individual ministers? What are the different outcomes where mistakes have been made by a government department?
- How much control does parliament have through collective responsibility?
- Explain what arm’s length bodies are and how they operate. How important are they?
- How much control do ministers have over them? How does the accountability chain link back to Parliament? Are any bodies directly accountable to Parliament?
- You could compare how much responsibility ministers have over civil servants in their own department and those in arm’s length bodies.