The impact and effectiveness of ministerial reshuffles

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The impact and effectiveness of ministerial reshuffles is written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Political and Constitutional Reform Committee and published by Stationery Office. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0215059034 (ISBN 10) and 9780215059031 (ISBN 13).

Reshuffles are damaging to the effectiveness of individual Ministers and of Government as a whole. They also hinder Parliament's ability to hold Government to account. Every time there is a reshuffle, it is proceeded by months of speculation about who will move where, which in itself causes a kind of paralysis within Government. The Committee calls for Secretaries of State to be left in post for the length of a Parliament. Taken together with the advent of fixed-term Parliaments, this should enable them to make a real difference. Some reshuffling of ministers is inevitable because of resignations and illness but reshuffles have become a habit in the UK. The majority of the Committee concluded that there should be a specific Minister in the Cabinet Office who is responsible for ministerial development. He or she should oversee ministerial training and appraisal. There should also be compulsory training for all new Ministers, continuous professional development for experienced Ministers and basic ministerial training for shadow Ministers in the 12 months before the expected date of a general election. Outgoing Ministers should handover directly to their successors, rather than relying exclusively on the civil service to conduct handovers.