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Cabinet Office written statement – made at on 16 July 2026.
Darren Jones
Minister of State (Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
Special advisers are a critical part of the team supporting Ministers. They add a political dimension to the advice and assistance available to Ministers while reinforcing the impartiality of the permanent Civil Service by distinguishing the source of political advice and support.
Special advisers are temporary civil servants, and their costs are met by the government department in which they are based. Each year, the Cabinet Office publishes a report on the total cost and number of special advisers across government. Today, the Cabinet Office will be publishing its report for the previous financial year (April 2025 to March 2026).
Departments also routinely publish data quarterly on special advisers' gifts, hospitality and meetings with senior media figures.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
