Which of the following describes the term Collective Responsibility?
Answer Details
Collective responsibility is a principle of cabinet government, which means that Cabinet Ministers jointly share praises and blames for the decisions made by the government. This means that when a decision is made by the Cabinet, all Cabinet Ministers are bound to support and defend it, even if they had reservations about it initially. If a Minister cannot support a decision, they are expected to resign from the Cabinet.
Therefore, option D, "Cabinet Ministers jointly share praises and blames," describes the term Collective Responsibility correctly. Ministers are responsible to parliament individually for their own departments, but when it comes to decisions made by the Cabinet as a whole, they are collectively responsible for them. The Prime Minister is accountable to the Cabinet, but this does not describe Collective Responsibility as a principle. Permanent Secretaries are responsible to parliament for the day-to-day running of their departments, but they are not Cabinet Ministers and are not bound by Collective Responsibility.