4.1 The UK Government
The UK Government of the day is generally formed by the political party which has the most MPs elected to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister will usually be the leader of the largest political party (i.e. the one with the most seats). The Prime Minister selects a large team of ministers to run each of the Government departments. The head of each department is usually a Secretary of State and sits in the Cabinet. The Cabinet is the group of approximately 20 senior Government ministers who are responsible for running the Government departments of state and deciding Government policy. For example, the Secretary of State for Scotland (Scottish Secretary), whose role is to promote and protect the devolution settlement and who has responsibilities which include promoting partnership between the UK government and the Scottish government, and relations between the two Parliaments.
