3. You receive information that the Prime Minister has reshuffled the Government and as a result your local MP, who up until now was a backbencher and outspoken member of a select committee who had been critical of government policy, has become a junior minister.
(a) Explain what is meant by the terms Government, backbencher, select committee and junior minister.
Government: The government runs the country. It has responsibility for developing and implementing policy and for drafting laws. It is also known as the Executive.
The political party that wins the most seats in a general election forms the new government, led by their party leader - who becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister appoints ministers, including the Cabinet, who often work in a government department, and run and develop public services and policies.
Government ministers are chosen from MPs and Lords in Parliament. Your MP may be a member of the party forming the current Government, but it doesn't necessarily mean they are working 'in government'. The rest of the MPs and Lords who are not in government carry out the work of Parliament. Ministers must regularly respond to oral and written questions from MPs and Lords.
Backbencher: a term referring to the majority of members of Parliament in the House of Commons, who represent a constituency, but have no additional job title or responsibility within the government or opposition, and therefore tend to sit on the 'back benches' (the seats behind the front row on either side of the house).
Select Committee: a permanent parliamentary committee charged with scrutinizing the day-to-day workings of a government department, and other public authorities related to the responsibilities of that department. For example, the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee examines the work of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as well as that of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Junior ministers: usually refers to people holding the ranks of Under Secretary of State or Minister of State in a government department. It is not a formal title, but a description of the person's relatively low ranking in the department, Junior ministers, broadly, are below Cabinet rank. The actual power that they hold and the level of responsibility they bear varies from person to person and from department to department.
Although junior ministers are not part of the cabinet, they are officially regarded as members of Her Majesty's Government for purposes of collective responsibility, together with Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS). Becoming PPS is the first step on the ladder towards being in the government.
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