Ministerial responsibility and the machinery of government.

This article examines the relationship between ministerial responsibility and the machinery of government. It discusses how constitutional government and the practical day-to-day functioning of a parliamentary democracy depend on ministerial responsibility as the bedrock principle for the organization and operation of the machinery of government across the range of government organizations. It concludes that ministerial responsibility remains the pivotal constitutional doctrine essential to the functioning of a parliamentary democracy; that notwithstanding the undue concentration of authority in the hands of first ministers, their machinery of government powers ought not to be reduced; and that first ministers in particular should pay closer attention to ministerial responsibility as the foundation of the machinery of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]