ABSTRACT
Since 1945 the only permanent central unit designed to support ministers collectively in policy matters has been the Cabinet Secretariat. Its name causes some confusion. The term ‘Cabinet Office’ is often used, although by it most people actually mean the Cabinet Secretariat, the two dozen officials who service the Cabinet and its committees and manage the channels through which all major decisions are made. The Cabinet Office proper embraces many wider responsibilities including the Civil Service, machinery of government and propriety issues. (In 1998 these various functions were more closely integrated-see Chapter 8.) The coordination of government policy, however, lies with the Cabinet Secretariat.
