Ministers: effective political leadership in government

Discussion paper

Foreword by Nick Herbert

Effective political leadership is vital to any policy success, and to having an effective and accountable government. The Institute for Government found individual leadership to be one of the seven common factors behind six of the most successful policies since Thatcher. Strong working relationships between Ministers and civil servants are particularly crucial for success. Realising the opportunities open to Britain in the years ahead will depend on a smart, radically improved government, and Ministers being better at their jobs is right at the centre of that. The Government itself recognises that change is about enabling Ministers, as well as civil servants, to be better at their jobs. In a recent speech at a Commission event, Michael Gove spoke about both the accountability and training of Ministers, topics on which we make proposals in this paper.

Being a Minister is a very difficult and hugely varied job that takes very different forms. Junior Ministers (Ministers of State and Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State) have very different responsibilities and day-to-day preoccupations compared to Secretaries of State, as do those drawn from the House of Lords compared to the House of Commons. Apart from the obvious differences in areas of responsibility, the experience of a Minister in the Treasury or Cabinet Office differs enormously from being a Minister in a large operational department like the Department for Work and Pensions or Ministry of Justice; or those travelling frequently and working more often with partners outside the British government, such as in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or the Northern Ireland Office.

All Ministers, above all Secretaries of State, have to be on top of all aspects of a very wide-ranging role – defining policy priorities, spearheading implementation, managing their departments (and their immediate teams), Parliamentary and party duties, and communicating with the media and the public, all while still being a constituency MP.

The job is made even more difficult because a Minister rarely knows what role the Prime Minister will offer when he or she calls and never knows how long they will have in post. The average Minister spends less than two years in post, and junior Ministers tend to move on in even shorter time periods. Ministers in the UK have a shorter average tenure than in many other countries and certainly much shorter than private sector leaders.

Even leaving aside their typically very short tenure, Ministers’ leadership roles are unlike any other. Management techniques or professional development practices cannot be directly transplanted from the private sector to government. However, that does not mean that there is nothing to learn from those leading other large organisations.

This Discussion Paper identifies four main areas which can undermine ministerial effectiveness:

Ministers begin their roles unprepared and have little access to training or professional development.

A lack of clear direction or mandate limits impact and accountability.

Many Ministers do not feel they have enough support.

A mismatch between authority and accountability means Ministers take the fall for mistakes that they don’t always have the levers to address.

These are problems with the system that are recognised by Ministers themselves, across different political parties and administrations. They cause Ministers personal frustration, as well as making it more difficult for them and their departments to work effectively. Changes proposed in other Commission papers, on digital, devolution, project management, finance and departmental boards, would help Ministers become more effective. This paper explores changes to the way Ministers are prepared, appointed, supported and work as members of a government team.

A discourse in which commentators point either to the political class or the Civil Service as the sole source of shortcomings in government is unproductive. People in both categories, almost always, want to do a great job and deliver for the people of this great country. That is why the Commission decided it needed to consider and address the effectiveness of Ministers, as well as the government machine as a whole. This paper sets out some ambitious proposals to improve the way Ministers’ talents and experience are nurtured and developed, and to help them to work together as an effective team.