7 Conclusion
126. At the start of this Report we recalled the
Prime Ministerial view that the public sector should be expected
'to do more for less' in current straightened financial circumstances.
The ministerial ranks should not be exempt— they need to
find ways of doing more with less. Currently ministers spread
themselves too thinly, spending time on activities where their
involvement adds little value and fails to focus their efforts
where they are really needed. We believe that Ministers need to
prioritise their time better and focus only on those activities
where their involvement is critical. Ministerial numbers should
be reduced to force them to concentrate their attention where
it will make the most difference—on an "insightfully
limited selection of policies related to what matters most now,
and in the future [...] and not to be distracted by the hubbub
of other traffic that will come their way."[149]
127. Having too many ministers is bad not just for
the quality of government, but also for the independence of the
legislature. Currently 141 Members[150],
approximately 22% of the House of Commons, hold some position
in Government. This is deeply corrosive to the House of Commons
primary role of acting as a check on the Executive. One simple
step the Government could take immediately to limit this size
of the payroll vote would be to limit the number of Parliamentary
Private Secretaries to one per Secretary of State. If this was
done it would result in 26 fewer Members being on the payroll
vote.
128. In addition we believe there is clear scope
for the Government to reduce the number of ministers. It should
do so by taking the following three steps:
i. Treating the Ministerial and Other Salaries
Act (MOSA) as setting a strict limit on the number of ministers.
The Government should not employ unpaid ministers if doing so
would take over the MOSA limit;
ii. Reduce the number of ministers in the House
of Commons in line with the reduction in MPs. This should be legislated
for now and take effect in 2015; and
iii. Conduct a fundamental review, by midway
through this Parliament, of the number of ministers required in
the smaller government which the Coalition is seeking to create.
These changes would help the House of Commons regain
a measure of independence from the Executive.
149 David Laughrin, "Swimming for Their Lives-Waving
or Drowning? A Review of the Evidence of Ministerial Overload
and of Potential Remedies for It", The Political Quarterly,
vol 8 (No. 3 July-September 2009), pp 339-350 Back
150
95 MPs in Government posts see "Limitations on the number
of Ministers and the size of the Payroll vote", House
of Commons Library Standard Note SN/PC/03378, and 46 PPSs
see "Government publishes list of Parliamentary Private
Secretaries", The official site of the Prime Minister's
Office, 17 November 2010, number10.gov.uk Back
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