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The British government is directed by the Cabinet, a group of senior government ministers led by the Prime Minister. Most of the day-to-day work of the Cabinet is carried out by Cabinet committees, rather than by the full Cabinet. Each committee has its own area of responsibility, and their decisions are binding on the entire Cabinet.〔(The Cabinet Manual: a guide to laws, conventions and rules on the operation of government ) (Cabinet Office, October 2011)〕 The details of the committee structure and membership are at the discretion of the Prime Minister.〔 The Prime Minister is free to reorganize committees and their responsibilities however he wishes, and can appoint or dismiss members freely. The sole limitation is the requirement that Cabinet ministers must be sworn members of the Privy Council, since the Cabinet itself is a sub committee of the Privy Council. Although there have been many changes since the Cabinet committee system was first developed in the early twentieth century, the committees for foreign and military policy, domestic policy, economic policy, and the government's legislative agenda have been more or less permanent fixtures. These and many other committees are ''standing committees'', which have a broad remit; others are ''ad hoc committees'', which are established to deal with specific matters. Ad hoc committees are rarer now than throughout most of the twentieth century. Many matters are now expected to be resolved bilaterally between departments, or through more informal discussion, rather than requiring the formation of a committee. The 2015 government introduced "Implementation Taskforces" to address specific cross-cutting priorities. These are to report to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Cabinet approval is still required if collective agreement is needed. ==Committee procedure== Committee membership is limited to ministers, but non-ministers may attend in some cases.〔(Cabinet Committee Membership Lists (6 November 2012) )〕 In particular, the National Security Council is routinely attended by senior military, intelligence and security officials. Members of the Prime Minister's office - including the Prime Minister himself - may attend any committee.〔 The Prime Minister's attendance does not mean that he will chair the committee, despite being the most senior Cabinet member present, though he may choose to do so.〔 In the 2010 coalition government, each Cabinet committee included members of both the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. Furthermore, the general pattern was for committees to have a Chair and a Deputy Chair, one from each party. There was a Coalition Committee, and an operational working group, to handle appeals over coalition disputes and to plan future policy.〔(Cabinet Committee Membership Lists (17 February 2012) )〕 Former committees with non-ministers as full members include the Economic Advisory Council, whose membership was made up of a combination of ministers and experts in economics. The Committee of Imperial Defence, a parallel Cabinet for military policy which existed from 1904 until 1939, included ministers, heads of the armed services, and civil servants. Between 1997 and 2001, there was a Ministerial Consultative Committee with the Liberal Democratic Party which included senior Liberal Democrats as well as Labour ministers. Until 1992, the list of cabinet committees, their membership, and their terms of reference were secret, with rare exceptions. During the Second World War, details of the War Cabinet structure were communicated to Parliament;〔(HC Deb 04 June 1940 vol 361 cols 768-771 )〕 Winston Churchill had previously announced a Standing Committee on National Expenditure in his 1925 Budget statement.〔(HC Deb 28 April 1925 vol 183 cols 58-60 )〕 The existence and membership of the Defence and Overseas Policy Committee was announced in 1963, coinciding with the amalgamation of the service ministries into a single Ministry of Defence.〔Command Paper 2097 (1963). ''Central Organisation for Defence''.〕 Margaret Thatcher confirmed the continuing existence of this committee in the House of Commons in 1979, along with standing committees for Economic Strategy, Home and Social Affairs, and Legislation.〔(HC Deb 24 May 1979 vol 967 c179W )〕 The secrecy was due to the concern that public knowledge of Cabinet procedure would lead to a loss of faith in collective responsibility (if it became known that only a subset of the Cabinet had been involved in making a given decision) and undue pressure being put on committee chairs once their specific policy responsibilities became known. Whether decisions were made by the entire Cabinet, or by a committee, is not revealed at present.〔 Cabinet committees are shadowed by "official committees" made up of civil servants from the relevant departments. Official committees follow a thirty-year secrecy rule with respect to their existence and membership. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United Kingdom cabinet committee」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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