Lesson 3.1.1.3.2

3.1.1.3.2 The Prime Minister and cabinet: responsibility and accountability Quiz: AQA Politics, Unit 1

20 questions

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Lesson 3.1.1.3.2, The Prime Minister and cabinet: responsibility and accountability: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Politics (7152), Unit 1: Government and politics of the UK, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is collective responsibility?

    • The principle that all cabinet ministers publicly support government decisions, even if they disagreed in private
    • The principle that ministers may publicly oppose government policy without consequence
    • The principle that the cabinet must be approved by every MP in the Commons before it meets
    • The principle that each minister is responsible only for their own department's spending

  2. What is individual ministerial responsibility?

    • A minister is personally responsible for all decisions made by the cabinet as a whole
    • A minister is legally liable in court for every decision made by civil servants
    • A minister is answerable to Parliament for the actions and errors of their department
    • A minister cannot be questioned by Parliament about the policy of their own department

  3. What was the significance of the resignation of Sir Thomas Dugdale in 1954?

    • It is a well-known example of a Supreme Court judge being removed from office by ministers
    • It is a well-known example of cabinet collective responsibility being abandoned for a whole cabinet
    • It is a well-known example of a PM resigning after losing a vote in the House of Lords
    • It is a well-known example of a minister resigning over a failure in their own department

  4. Which example best illustrates the difference between individual and collective responsibility?

    • A minister resigns to protest against a policy they helped to decide, without any departmental failure
    • A minister is protected from resignation whenever a cabinet decision has been taken unanimously
    • Every cabinet minister resigns immediately after any single departmental error is reported
    • A minister resigns over their department's failure, while the rest of cabinet remains because the policy was agreed

  5. Iain Duncan Smith resigned in 2016 over welfare reforms. What does this example show?

    • A minister is automatically required to resign after any vote in the House of Lords
    • A minister must resign whenever the Supreme Court rules a policy unlawful, without exception
    • A minister may resign when they cannot publicly support a government policy they oppose
    • A minister is protected from any resignation pressure once the policy has been approved by Parliament

  6. What does accountability of the cabinet to Parliament mean in practice?

    • Ministers can ignore questions in Parliament, as there is no sanction for failing to answer them
    • Ministers must answer questions and defend policy in Parliament
    • Ministers are accountable only to the courts, which can order them to publish all cabinet papers
    • Ministers must seek the permission of the monarch before answering any question in the Commons

  7. What is a key constraint on collective responsibility in practice?

    • Ministers can publicly contradict each other without any effect on the government
    • Ministers are legally required to vote against any policy they privately oppose
    • Ministers cannot be dismissed by the PM, who must wait for a Commons vote
    • Ministers sometimes resign

  8. Which relationship between the PM and cabinet is most supported by the concept of accountability?

    • The PM has no accountability because the cabinet is entirely made up of civil servants
    • The PM and cabinet are answerable to Parliament, which can scrutinise decisions
    • The PM is answerable only to the cabinet, which can overrule any decision in Parliament
    • The PM is answerable only to the monarch, who must approve each cabinet decision in advance

  9. Which statement best explains why individual responsibility can sometimes be avoided?

    • Ministers are legally immune from criticism in Parliament when they hold office for more than a year
    • Ministers always resign immediately after any failure, so there is never any doubt about responsibility
    • Ministers may claim that departmental failures were the work of civil servants, which makes accountability harder to establish
    • Ministers cannot be questioned by Parliament about their department because of statutory privilege

  10. Which evaluation best supports the view that collective responsibility strengthens government?

    • It presents a united front, so the government can deliver policy coherently even when ministers have private doubts
    • It requires the cabinet to publish all of its private discussions for public review
    • It prevents the PM from making any decision without the approval of the House of Lords
    • It stops any minister from being questioned by Parliament about the policy of the government

  11. Which argument best supports the view that collective responsibility weakens accountability?

    • Ministers are required to publish every cabinet paper, which removes all secrecy from decisions
    • Ministers must answer every question in Parliament, so collective decisions are always exposed
    • Ministers can be dismissed by the Lords, so accountability is always strengthened by the cabinet
    • Ministers can hide behind a collective decision, so individual ministers may avoid answering

  12. Which example would be a test of government/parliament accountability relations?

    • A committee passes a bill without debate because the government has a large majority
    • A committee meets only in private and publishes no record of its proceedings
    • A committee refuses to hear any evidence because the minister is a member of the cabinet
    • A committee calls a minister to give evidence on a failed programme

  13. Which statement about Parliament's ability to force a government to account is most accurate?

    • Parliament can only hold ministers to account through the monarch, who decides the outcome
    • Parliament can always remove the government at any time through a simple motion of censure
    • Parliament has no ability to scrutinise the government because all decisions are made in private
    • Parliament can scrutinise and vote against the government, but a majority can usually resist such pressure

  14. A government minister is criticised for a poor policy outcome. Which response reflects individual responsibility?

    • The minister insists the whole cabinet must resign, because all decisions are collective
    • The minister publicly contradicts the PM to show that policy was never agreed
    • The minister refuses to answer and argues that the cabinet is immune from questions
    • The minister explains the failure in Parliament, accepts it is their department's responsibility and may resign

  15. Why are the resignations of Dugdale and Duncan Smith useful for evaluating accountability?

    • They show that collective responsibility has no role in modern UK government at all
    • They prove that ministers are never held responsible for their actions under any circumstances
    • They demonstrate that the Supreme Court can remove ministers from office for policy failures
    • They show how responsibility can be enforced, but also how the difference between individual

  16. Which combination best describes the cabinet's accountability to Parliament?

    • It is collectively answerable through confidence votes
    • It is answerable only to the monarch and to the Supreme Court, which decide its survival
    • It is answerable only to the House of Lords, which must approve every cabinet decision
    • It is not answerable to anyone, since ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister alone

  17. Which judgement best assesses the strength of the accountability of PMs and ministers?

    • Accountability is non-existent because the executive controls all parliamentary procedure
    • Accountability is fixed by statute and cannot change regardless of the political situation
    • Accountability is real but depends on the strength of the Commons
    • Accountability is absolute because ministers can always be removed by the courts within days

  18. What is the effect of collective responsibility on a minister who publicly opposes a government decision?

    • They are automatically protected from any sanction, because the decision was collective
    • They are required to become a member of the House of Lords for the rest of the term
    • They are allowed to continue in office, because the Commons must approve every dismissal
    • They may be expected to resign or be dismissed, because they cannot publicly support the policy

  19. Which concept describes ministers answering to Parliament for their own department's errors?

    • Collective cabinet responsibility
    • Individual ministerial responsibility
    • Judicial independence
    • Parliamentary privilege

  20. Which evaluation best supports the view that accountability is weakened when ministers blame civil servants?

    • It has no effect on accountability, because civil servants are never criticised by ministers
    • It allows ministers to avoid personal responsibility, which can make individual accountability harder to enforce
    • It removes all the powers of Parliament, which can no longer question any minister
    • It increases accountability, because civil servants are always named in Parliament for each error

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