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3. THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
Decision-Making Mechanisms
3.1 Much of the business which requires a Ministerial decision can be dealt with below the level of the Cabinet - normally in minuting to the Ministers with a direct portfolio interest followed, where necessary, by discussion among them. This helps to relieve the pressure on the Cabinet by enabling business to be settled at a lower level; or, failing that, by helping to clarify the issues and define the points of disagreement before an issue goes to the Cabinet. It also supports the principle of collective responsibility by ensuring that, even though an important issue may not be determined by the Cabinet itself, the decision will be fully considered by those Ministers with a direct portfolio interest in it and that the final judgement will be sufficiently authoritative to ensure that the Government as a whole can reasonably be expected to accept responsibility for it.
3.2 There are a range of mechanisms through which Ministers may arrive at the day-to-day decisions on policy matters by which they are collectively bound. The most strategically important and sensitive issues will require preparation of a paper for consideration at a meeting of the Cabinet. At the other end of the spectrum, however, a routine issue which falls wholly within the responsibilities of one Minister can normally be dealt with by officials submitting a minute to that Minister.
3.3 Between these 2 approaches there are a range of other options. Which option is appropriate in any particular case will depend very much on the circumstances of the case - with the principal determining factors being the strategic importance of the issue, its sensitivity, its complexity and the number of Ministerial portfolios on which it impinges. The guiding principles in the selection of an appropriate decision-making process are flexibility and fitness for purpose.
3.4 The principal mechanisms for reaching decisions on matters on which a Ministerial decision is required are:
- A minute addressed to the Minister with lead responsibility and copied to all other Ministers whose views are specifically required;
- A Ministerial meeting involving the Minister with lead responsibility for the issue in question and others with an interest;
- A meeting convened by the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth or the Minister for Parliamentary Business;
- Consideration by a Cabinet Sub-Committee; or
- Consideration by the Cabinet - either at a meeting of the Cabinet or under the arrangements for handling in correspondence issues which require a Cabinet decision ( see Section 4).
3.5 The following paragraphs explain these options in greater detail.
Minutes to Ministers
3.6 Routine matters falling wholly within the responsibility of an individual Minister can normally be dealt with via a minute to that Minister - i.e. the Minister is invited to make a decision in response to a minute from the relevant official which sets out the issue, the relevant considerations and the options, and which makes a recommendation. These types of decision do not usually require collective consideration by Ministers - although Ministers are of course collectively bound by them. It is important that officials give Ministers sufficient time to deal with the issue in question and, if appropriate, set a clear deadline by which a response is required.
3.7 Similarly, non-contentious issues spanning the responsibilities of 2 or more Ministers can generally be dealt with via a minute agreed between the relevant officials (following consultation with other colleagues as necessary) and put to the Ministers concerned by:
(a) Addressing it to the lead Minister and copying it to all other Ministers whose views are specifically required;
(b) Addressing it directly to all the relevant Ministers; or
(c) Putting it to the Ministers concerned on a '1-2' basis.
Such minutes should give Ministers sufficient time to deal with the issue in question and should set a clear deadline by which a response is required. If the minute raises issues which Ministers consider require collective discussion, it may be necessary to convene a meeting for this purpose (see paragraphs 3.11 -3.14 below).
3.8 The Cabinet Secretariat does not normally play any direct role in decision-making at this level. However, if it is to perform effectively its wider role of helping to co-ordinate and facilitate collective decision-making, it is obviously important that it is able to keep abreast of policy development across the office as a whole. Therefore, in drafting minutes to Ministers conveying advice on significant or sensitive policy issues, you may wish to consider whether the Permanent Secretary and the Head of Cabinet Secretariat should be included as copy recipients.
3.9 Minutes to Ministers which relate to preliminary consideration of an issue (and which are being sent to the Minister with lead responsibility for that issue) need not be copied to other Ministers with an interest or to the First Minister, Permanent Secretary or Cabinet Secretariat provided that, where appropriate, they will receive papers on the issue at a later stage in the decision-making process (in line with the guidance above), and certainly before any final decisions have been made.
3.10 In order to help Private Offices prioritise material which is to be seen by Ministers and to ensure that appropriate action is taken on it, minutes to Ministers should, wherever practical, begin with sections indicating purpose and priority and end with a conclusion or recommendation. In general, however, all Ministerial submissions should be drafted to be as concise as is practicable (ideally a single page) with detailed, background information being placed in supporting annexes.
Ministerial Meetings
3.11 For some issues spanning the responsibilities of 2 or more Ministers it may be appropriate for the Ministers concerned to discuss the issue in order to agree how matters should be taken forward. Many such discussions will be of an informal nature - a quick word in the margins of another meeting or a chat on the telephone etc - and this Guide does not seek to inhibit such flexibility and informality. Where follow-up action is required as a result of such a discussion, however, it is of course important that the Ministers concerned should arrange for a Private Secretary or an official to record the decisions reached and/or action agreed and for the note to be copied to all interested parties.
3.12 In some cases, however the appropriate course will be to convene a formal meeting of the relevant Ministers, supported as necessary and appropriate by officials. Where the issue to be discussed at a meeting is of a relatively routine nature - and is unlikely to require collective discussion in the Cabinet or in a Cabinet Sub-Committee at a later stage - arrangements for the meeting should be made in discussion between the relevant officials and Private Offices. The Cabinet Secretariat will not usually have a role in arranging or servicing such meetings (although it is available to take on such a role where any of the parties to the meeting think it appropriate for it to do so).
3.13 In other cases where a Ministerial meeting is to be held to discuss a significant or sensitive policy issue, or any other matter which may require collective consideration by the Cabinet at a later date, the Cabinet Secretariat should be contacted as soon as the need for a meeting is identified. It will then discuss and agree with the relevant policy Directorate(s) arrangements for setting up and servicing the meeting. Where the Cabinet Secretariat is to arrange and service the meeting, it will work in close consultation with officials in the relevant Directorates, particularly in relation to the preparation of an agenda and papers for the meeting and in relation to decisions about who should be invited to attend. Where a policy Directorate is to arrange and service the meeting, the Cabinet Secretariat should be kept informed of the arrangements and should be sent copies of relevant papers. The Cabinet Secretariat may send a representative to such meetings in order to ensure that it has a full understanding of the relevant issues and is therefore better able to advise, at the appropriate time, on whether and how the issue might best be taken forward at Cabinet level.
3.14 Wherever possible such Ministerial meetings should take place on the basis of policy analysis agreed collectively among officials. Where necessary the advice should spell out areas of tension between different policy objectives. All possible steps should be taken to avoid a situation where the Ministers participating in such meetings are doing so on the basis of separate, and potentially conflicting, policy analysis from different Directorates.
Meetings Convened by the First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth or the Minister for Parliamentary Business
3.15 From time to time the First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth or the Minister for Parliamentary Business may need to convene a meeting involving one or more other Ministers to discuss a particular issue for which those other Ministers have functional responsibility but which may have significant implications for the Government's wider programme, or for public expenditure or Parliamentary business. Such meetings may be arranged and serviced by Cabinet Secretariat, the relevant part of the Finance Directorate or the relevant part of Constitution, Law and Courts Directorate. In discharging this role, the officials servicing the meeting act effectively as an extension of the relevant Minister's Private Office.
Cabinet Sub-Committees
3.16 Where it is clear that a particular issue that spans portfolios will require 2 or more Ministers and their officials to work together over a period, or that a matter falling within the portfolio of one Minister needs to be considered collectively, the Cabinet may decide to establish a Cabinet Sub-Committee to take forward consideration of the issue. Their size, membership, and length of life may vary significantly depending on the nature of the subject at issue. The principal existing Cabinet Sub-Committee is SGoRR which has a remit covering Scotland's resilience to deal with civil contingencies. SGoRR also manages emergency situations as they arise.
The Scottish Cabinet
3.17 The Scottish Cabinet is the appropriate forum for consideration of key policy issues, including major cross-cutting issues. It also maintains a broad overview of forthcoming business and impending announcements as well as looking ahead to forthcoming business in the Scottish Parliament.
3.18 Section 4 outlines the arrangements for securing collective consideration of those issues which require to be considered by the Cabinet.
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