Background
Following a review of intergovernmental relations, the UK Government and devolved governments agreed to reform existing arrangements in January 2022. Read a previous SPICe blog for background on what was agreed. This new blog examines to what extent the new arrangements have been implemented, how reforms have affected transparency of intergovernmental interactions, and whether a new dispute resolution procedure has been put to the test.
‘Intergovernmental activity’ refers to work between governments. It can include discussions on areas of mutual interest, policy development, and policy implementation. In the UK, intergovernmental activity relates to the UK Government and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland working together. Intergovernmental interactions can take place in formal structures often called ‘intergovernmental relations’ as well as more informally. SPICe uses the term ‘intergovernmental activity’ to include formal interactions as well as more informal ways of working together. A previous SPICe blog explains why awareness of intergovernmental activity has become an increasingly important part of parliamentary scrutiny in recent years.
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To what extent have reforms been implemented?
The 2022 reforms established a three-tier intergovernmental structure intended to facilitate regular engagement between governments.
Before the 2022 reforms, the main forum for intergovernmental structures in the UK was the Joint Ministerial Committee and its sub-committees. These committees only met when called by the UK Government. In addition, there were interministerial groups meeting in specific policy areas, but there was no formal link between these groups and the Joint Ministerial Committee.
In the new structure, these pre-existing interministerial groups have been subsumed into the broader interministerial group structure. The Interministerial Standing Committee has oversight of interministerial groups and considers crosscutting issues.
The 2022 agreement and intergovernmental groups’ terms of reference set out that groups are to meet regularly, ranging from yearly (the Council) to monthly (Interministerial Group for Business and Industry). Most groups’ terms of reference include the proviso that groups may meet more or less frequently if required.
The below provides an overview of how often different intergovernmental groups have met, based on information available on the UK Government’s Intergovernmental Relations website:
- At the top level, the Council met once in November 2022. At the time of publication, there is no indication that a meeting took place in 2023.
- Both interministerial standing committees, the Interministerial Standing Committee and the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee, have been meeting regularly. The former has met five times and the latter has met six times.
- The review documents that established the new structure contained a draft list of interministerial groups (IMGs). The infographic provides information on how often IMGs have met to date:
While some groups have been meeting regularly, the vast majority have not been meeting as frequently as envisaged in the 2022 agreement or the groups’ terms of reference published since then. For example:
- The draft terms of reference for the Interministerial Standing Committee (IMSC) contained in the 2022 review state that meetings of the “IMSC will take place every other month, but it can meet more or less frequently according to need and if agreed by consensus.” The IMSC has met five times since March 2022. Updated terms of reference have not been published to date.
- The terms of reference for the Interministerial Group for Elections and Registration, which predated the 2022 agreement, set out that the group is to meet “every quarter, but can meet more or less frequently according to need and if agreed by consensus.” Since January 2022, the group has met three times.
- The Interministerial Group for Business and Industry’s terms of reference set out that meetings “will be held monthly with the option to meet more or less frequently if required.” The group first met in February 2022 and has met four times since. The last meeting for which minutes are available took place over a year ago, in January 2023.
The main exception is the IMG for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which has met 11 times. This group predates the 2022 agreement and had been meeting since 2021.
Seven groups listed in the agreement’s draft list, relating to the following policy areas, have not met to date:
- Science and research
- Culture
- Sports
- Tourism
- Higher education
- Health and Social Care
- Veterans Affairs
During its inquiry on how devolution is changing post EU, the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee heard from witnesses about how the new intergovernmental structures are operating. The Institute for Government told the Committee that “the operation of the intergovernmental relations machinery still tends to be quite patchy and dependent on the extent to which individual ministers and secretaries of state prioritise engagement with the devolved bodies.”
In addition to intergovernmental groups, the 2022 agreement also set out a role for an intergovernmental relations secretariat:
A standing IGR Secretariat will also be established to provide administrative support and promote the efficient and effective maintenance of relations at each tier and for the handling and resolution of disputes. Further details are outlined in Annex A.
Limited information has been available about the status of this secretariat since 2022. However, in a debate on intergovernmental relations at the House of Lords on 18 January 2024, Baroness Penn, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, confirmed that the secretariat has been established. Terms of reference for the secretariat were published on 27 November 2023.
Have the new arrangements increased transparency?
A lack of transparency in intergovernmental arrangements has long been noted as an area of concern. See a SPICe briefing on intergovernmental relations for an overview. The 2022 agreement states:
The governments are accountable to their respective legislatures for the conduct of intergovernmental relations and will seek to promote a wider understanding of this activity. All governments commit to increased transparency of intergovernmental relations through enhanced reporting to their respective legislatures.
All intergovernmental forums will be encouraged to produce communiqués on their meetings and activities and publish these online.
Minutes of meetings by most interministerial committees and groups are published on the UK Government’s Intergovernmental Relations collection. However, there is no regular publication schedule and the meetings of some groups have been published with significant delays. For example, minutes for meetings of the IMG Net Zero, Energy and Climate Change that took place in November 2021 and January, March and October 2022 were published in December 2022 and minutes for meetings that took place in March, April and June 2023 were published in November 2023. In addition to minutes of intergovernmental group meetings, the UK Government publishes information about intergovernmental activity quarterly on its Transparency Dashboard as well as in annual reports.
Minutes of meetings of some IMGs have not been published. According to the UK Government’s Transparency Dashboard, an IMG on UK-EU Relations met in Q1, Q2, and Q3 of 2023, but no minutes from this group have been published to date. Ministerial statements by the Welsh Government provide information about issues discussed in June 2023 and September 2023. These statements are published by the Welsh Government under an agreement on providing intergovernmental information to the Senedd. As part of the agreement, the Welsh Government also provides a yearly report to the Senedd.
The Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament reached an agreement in 2016 on the provision of information related to intergovernmental relations. This agreement requires that the Scottish Government provides advance notice of meetings and information on issues discussed for intergovernmental interactions covered by the agreement. However, the agreement still refers to the pre-2022 arrangements when setting out which intergovernmental interactions it covers. The agreement further states that the Scottish Government will provide an annual report of intergovernmental relations to the Scottish Parliament. The most recent such report, covering 2017-2018, was published in 2019. Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government officials are currently discussing how to approach a review of the agreement.
The Scottish Government sometimes provides additional information on intergovernmental activity. For example:
- The Scottish Government publishes minutes of the meetings of some interministerial groups on its website and has also been writing to Scottish Parliament committees about meetings of some intergovernmental groups. However, this is not done consistently.
- The Scottish Government has notified the Parliament about intergovernmental developments relating to legislation under consideration, for example recent intergovernmental discussions about a potential UK Internal Market Act 2020 exclusion for the sale of glue traps, which the Scottish Government plans to legislate for through the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill.
In its October 2023 report, ‘How Devolution is Changing Post-EU’, the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee stated that “the increased significance of intergovernmental relations within a shared governance space raises substantial challenges for parliamentary scrutiny” and recommended:
[that the Scottish Parliament] review how it approaches the scrutiny of intergovernmental relations and scrutiny of the Scottish Ministers in their shared role in the governance of the UK alongside the UK Government and other devolved governments.
SPICe’s intergovernmental activity hub tracks intergovernmental activity across different policy areas. SPICe also publishes quarterly intergovernmental activity updates which provide a snapshot of intergovernmental activity that has taken place over the previous quarter and outlines key issues about which discussion is anticipated to take place in the following months.
What has the new IGR structure meant for dispute resolution?
A central point of criticism of the previous dispute resolution process was that any party to a disagreement had the power to veto the decision to escalate it to the formal dispute resolution process. Surveying these issues and their effects, the 2019 Dunlop Review of UK Government Union Capability noted “the strong case for the creation of a more robust and trusted dispute handling process.”
The 2022 agreement set out a central role for the IGR Secretariat as it, not governments involved in a disagreement, will decide whether a disagreement is to enter the formal dispute resolution process. This decision is to be based on clear criteria, such as whether the disagreement has previously been discussed by officials and whether it has implications beyond its policy area. The new process also includes more extensive reporting requirements.
In its October 2023 report, ‘How Devolution is Changing Post-EU’, the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee noted that “the formal dispute resolution process within the IGR structure does not appear to have been used despite a number of intergovernmental disagreements.”
On 18 January 2024, Baroness Penn, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, stated in a debate on intergovernmental relations at the House of Lords, that the dispute resolution process has been triggered once in relation to a disagreement “between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, in relation to a scheme setting out the payment of pensions to persons who sustained injuries because of Troubles-related incidents. That dispute is currently on pause due to the Executive’s absence.”
In a letter received in September 2023 as part of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee’s inquiry, the UK Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, stated:
The new intergovernmental arrangements promote dispute avoidance by ensuring there are effective communication and governance structures are all levels, from working-level officials to ministers. Disagreements are considered at the lowest appropriate level possible and in most cases are resolved before requiring escalation to ministerial level and the dispute resolution process. All governments have the option of raising a dispute under the dispute process, including around any aspect of how Common Frameworks decision-making processes are being used.
In a letter from September 2023 to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee on its inquiry ‘Intergovernmental relations – 25 years since the Scotland Act 1998’, the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson MSP, stated:
The new dispute resolution process has not yet been fully tested. Issues that have developed on the IGR landscape have so far been dealt with through the principle of dispute avoidance where possible and have gone through informal escalation channels, including official level engagement. Therefore, the efficacy of the new dispute resolution mechanism remains to be seen.
What impact has the reform of intergovernmental arrangements had to date?
Two years after new intergovernmental arrangements were reformed, the shape of intergovernmental interactions in the UK is changing, but reforms have not been implemented in full.
While a number of new intergovernmental groups are meeting regularly, groups are meeting less frequently than agreed and not at all in some policy areas.
Whereas before the review, little information on intergovernmental activity was publicly available, minutes of most interministerial groups are now routinely published although not always in a timely manner.
The dispute resolution process remains largely untested, as the only dispute raised to date is between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. As a new Northern Ireland Executive is now in place, it remains to be seen if the dispute will be progressed, and if so, whether the process will operate as intended.
Annie Bosse, SPICe Research