Privy Council Office

Class xvii, Vote 5

1.The Privy Council Office is an autonomous government department whose ministerial head is the President of the Council and whose Permanent Head is the Clerk of the Privy Council. Its primary function is to act as the Secretariat to the Privy Council. Through the President's Private Office it also supports her in her wider ministerial responsibilities which include her role as Leader of the House of Commons, her responsibilities for planning and managing the Government's legislative programme and the oversight of preparations for the year 2000 computer date-change issue. The President also has a role as a cross-government spokesperson, and she chairs the Ministerial Committees on Food Safety and Health Strategy.

Role of the Privy Council

2.Her Majesty acting with the advice of the Privy Council, as well as the Privy Council acting alone, have a wide range of responsibilities, some statutory and some involving the exercise of the Royal Prerogative. Statutory responsibilities include the appointment of High Sheriffs and the making of Orders in Council covering the interests of many government departments. The Privy Council makes appointments to a number of academic, regulatory and other bodies and oversees the activities of statutory bodies in the veterinary, medical and allied professions. Schemes of the Church Commissioners (for example schemes for uniting benefices or establishing team ministries) fall to be approved by Her Majesty acting with the advice of the Privy Council, which, through its Judicial Committee (see below), is also responsible for appeals against such schemes.

3.Prerogative functions include dealing with the 400 or so bodies with Royal Charters, in such matters as amendments to their charters, statutes and by-laws and the use of Chartered titles by members of professional bodies. The Privy Council is also responsible for advising The Queen on the grant of new charters. The Privy Council Office is responsible for the arrangements leading to the making of Royal Proclamations (for example those relating to new coinage and Bank Holidays) and for formalities connected with ministerial changes.

4.The number of Orders made and Charters granted gives an indication of the Office's output. The information for the last three years is given in Table A.

5.The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the final court of appeal for the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, the United Kingdom overseas territories and those independent Commonwealth countries which have retained this avenue of appeal. The Committee also hears appeals from the disciplinary and health committees of the statutory councils regulating the medical and allied professions and (with leave) appeals against Pastoral Schemes made by the Church Commissioners.

Table A : Privy Council Office - Orders made and charters granted

		1995-96	1996-97	1997-98
Privy Council Office
Number of Orders made, including Charters		541	630	628
Number of Charters:	New	7	6	5
	Supplemental	4	10	7

Table B : Privy Council Office - Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Table C : Privy Council Office - Number of Senior Civil Service Staff in each payband

6.Table B shows the number of Appeals and Petitions registered over the past 5 years.

The Office itself

7.The Office is small, but it seeks to manage itself as professionally as larger departments. Its size helps to engender a stronger corporate identity, and makes it easier for staff to have a clear idea of its role and their contribution to it. For certain services and functions the Office shares the facilities of the Cabinet Office (including that Department's Press Office).

8.The Senior Civil Service Salaries are shown in Table C. Running cost provision and manpower numbers are shown in Tables 6H and 6I Chapter 6.

Changes since last year's report

9.On 1 September 1998 responsibility for the UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordination Unit passed to the Cabinet Office. The Office of the Lord Privy Seal has also transferred to the Cabinet Office, though the Privy Council Office will continue to carry the associated costs on its budget until 31 March 1999.

10.A new ministerial post, that of Parliamentary Secretary, Privy Council Office, was created in December 1998, requiring the establishment of a new Private Office and the recruitment of the associated staff.

Aims and Objectives

11.The aim of the Privy Council Office is "to act as the secretariat to the Privy Council in its constitutional and statutory role and to support the President of the Council in her Privy Council and other responsibilities as efficiently and effectively as possible". Its objectives are:

• to ensure the orderly conduct of Privy Council business;

• to support the proper discharge of judicial responsibilities.

To meet these objectives and increase efficiency the Privy Council Office has set the following performance targets.

• Time for issue of Orders in or of Council reduced by 5% over a three year period as a result of new efficiency measures.

• Cost per case of Charters and Bye-Laws held at 1998/99 levels for the next three years by reason of increased use of electronic communications.

• Consumption of stationery to be reduced by 1% for each of the next three years, mainly by reason of increased electronic communication.

Equal opportunities

12.The Privy Council Office operates an equal opportunities policy designed to ensure that everyone has the opportunity for employment and advancement on the basis of their ability, qualifications and suitability. Family friendly policies such as career breaks and flexible working patterns are available to all staff as far as the Office's needs permit.

Investors in People

13.The Privy Council Office embraces the principles of Investors in People and is working towards accreditation as soon as possible, and by the year 2000 at the latest.

Recruitment

14.In the current year the Privy Council Office has not undertaken any recruitment from outside the Civil Service, but systems are in place to ensure that recruitment is on the basis of fair and open competition and selection on merit. These systems are subject to audit both internally and by the Office of the Civil Service Commissioners.

Payment Performance

15.The Privy Council Office supports the principles of the CBI prompt payment code, and complies with the British Standard for Achieving Good Payment Performance in Commercial Transactions (BS 7890). The policy is to pay all suppliers within 30 days of receipt of goods or services or a correctly documented invoice (whichever is received later) or according to contract where a different payment period is agreed. 100% of the Privy Council Office's bills were paid on time in the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998.

Information Technology

16.The Privy Council Office shares its computer system with the Cabinet Office, and is covered by that Department's precautions against the Millennium date-change effect. Work is proceeding on the possibility of making judgments of the Judicial Committee available on the World Wide Web, and the opportunity will be taken to consider what other information and services might be made available electronically. The Office is fully connected to the Government Secure Intranet.

Sustainable development
and the environment

17.The Privy Council Office is located in the Cabinet Office complex in Whitehall, and is covered by that Department's Green Minister and building management services. The Privy Council Office is not responsible for the promotion of any primary legislation or for the direct execution of any policies which impact on the environment.