Government to Expand Ministerial Payroll Despite Civil Service Reduction Plans

Yesterday, the House of Commons progressed all stages of the Ministerial Salaries (Amendment) Bill with limited public scrutiny. Introduced on March 5th, the bill aims to amend the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975, specifically increasing the number of paid ministers.

Bill Details and Current Ministerial Structure

The 1975 Act currently allows for 109 salaried government posts, encompassing ministers in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This breaks down to 83 posts allocated to Secretaries of State, Ministers of State, and Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State, with the remaining 26 positions held by the Lord High Chancellor, law officers, and government whips.

The proposed amendment seeks to raise the limit of paid departmental ministers from 83 to 94, enabling the appointment of 11 additional salaried ministers. The positions of the 26 law officers and whips remain unaffected by this bill.

Expansion Amidst Austerity and Efficiency Concerns

Currently, there are 21 cabinet ministers, in addition to the Prime Minister, and six ministers who attend cabinet. The government has already stretched its ministerial appointments to 122, exceeding the 1975 Act’s provision. The passage of this bill would largely address this shortfall.

This move appears incongruous with the government’s stated goals of reducing the size of the civil service and streamlining the British state. Prime Minister Starmer previously articulated a vision of “treading more lightly on your lives,” yet this bill suggests an expansion of the ministerial payroll.

Concerns Over Bloated Ministerial Teams

Critics argue that ministerial teams are already excessively large. The Cabinet Office, for example, currently has eight ministers under the Prime Minister, compared to four in 2007 and three in 1997. Similarly, the Home Office has a team of seven ministers, while it functioned with six in 1997, despite also overseeing courts and prisons at that time.

There is a concern that the expansion of ministerial roles reflects a broader issue of “too much government,” with increasing regulation and intervention in areas such as sports, criminal justice, and public health.

Parkinson’s Law and the Expansion of Work

The situation highlights C. Northcote Parkinson’s first law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” The bill is unlikely to be a “silver bullet” solution, as the fundamental problem may not be a lack of ministers, but rather an overextension of governmental reach.

As Kemi Badenoch stated during her Conservative leadership campaign, government “should do fewer things, but what it does, it should do with brilliance.” This bill, but, appears to prioritize expanding capacity rather than focusing on core priorities.

This article is based on reporting from The Telegraph and analysis of the Ministerial Salaries (Amendment) Bill.