HC Deb 20 November 1997 vol 301 c269W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Prime Minister what criteria he uses to determine which Government policies are referred to full Cabinet for discussion and decision.[16681]

The Prime Minister

Paragraph 3 of the Ministerial Code, copies of which are available in the Library, statesCabinet and Ministerial Committee business consists, in the main, of:

  1. questions which significantly engage the collective responsibility of the Government, because they raise major issues of policy or because they are of critical importance to the public;
  2. questions on which there is an unresolved argument between Departments."

Only where matters cannot be satisfactorily resolved elsewhere need they be referred to the full Cabinet.