The Cabinet of Canada is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the prime minister, the Cabinet is a committee of the King's Privy Council for Canada and the senior echelon of the Ministry, the membership of the Cabinet and Ministry often being co-terminal; as of November 2015 there were no members of the latter who were not also members of the former.
The Scottish Government is the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution. It has the responsibility for the economy of Scotland, the educational system in Scotland, health care, justice, Scots law, rural affairs, housing, environment, equal opportunities, the transportation network and tax, amongst others.
The premier of Ontario is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly; as such, the premier typically sits as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and leads the largest party or a coalition of parties. As first minister, the premier selects ministers to form the Executive Council, and serves as its chair. Constitutionally, the Crown exercises executive power on the advice of the Executive Council, which is collectively responsible to the legislature.
The Cabinet of New Zealand is the New Zealand Government's body of senior ministers, accountable to the New Zealand Parliament. Cabinet meetings, chaired by the prime minister, occur once a week; in them, vital issues are discussed and government policy is formulated. Cabinet is also composed of a number of committees focused on specific areas of governance and policy. Though not established by any statute, Cabinet has significant power in the New Zealand political system and nearly all bills proposed by Cabinet in Parliament are enacted.
A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service.
The Privy Council Office is the central agency of the Government of Canada which acts as the secretariat to the Cabinet of Canada – a committee of the King's Privy Council for Canada – and provides non-partisan advice and support to the Canadian ministry, as well as leadership, coordination, and support to the departments and agencies of government.
The clerk of the Privy Council is the professional head of the Public Service of Canada. As the deputy minister for the Privy Council Office, the clerk is the senior civil servant in the Government of Canada and serves as the secretary to the Cabinet.
Ministry or department are designations used by first-level executive bodies in the machinery of governments that manage a specific sector of public administration.
A minister of state is a junior cabinet minister in the Cabinet of Canada, usually given specific responsibilities to assist a senior cabinet minister in a specific area. A secretary of state also holds many similar responsibilities in assisting senior cabinet members, being members of the Ministry and the King's Privy Council for Canada. A secretary of state is legally a minister of state styled as secretaries. However, secretaries of state are considered junior to ministers of state and are not members of Cabinet.
Ministers in the New Zealand Government are members of Parliament (MPs) who hold ministerial warrants from the Crown to perform certain functions of government. This includes formulating and implementing policies and advising the governor-general. Ministers collectively make up the executive branch of the New Zealand state. The governor-general is obliged to follow the advice of the prime minister on the appointment and dismissal of ministers.
A permanent secretary is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil service chief executives of government departments or ministries, who generally hold their position for a number of years at a ministry as distinct from the changing political secretaries of state to whom they report and provide advice. The role originated in the civil service of the United Kingdom and has been adopted in several Commonwealth countries as well as other countries influenced by the Westminster system.
A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family.
The Government of Ontario is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. The term Government of Ontario refers specifically to the executive—political ministers of the Crown, appointed on the advice of the premier, and the non-partisan Ontario Public Service, who staff ministries and agencies to deliver government policies, programs, and services—which corporately brands itself as the Government of Ontario, or more formally, His Majesty's Government of Ontario.
The Office of the Prime Minister (commonly called the prime minister's office or PMO comprises the staff that supports the prime minister of Canada and is located in the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council Building in Ottawa, Ontario. The PMO provides policy advice, information gathering, communications, planning, and strategizing. It should not be confused with the Privy Council Office, which is the higher office that controls the Public Service of Canada and is expressly non-partisan; the PMO is concerned with making policy, whereas the PCO is concerned with executing the policy decisions made by the government.
Undersecretary is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary. It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is also used in other organizational settings.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) is an Australian Government public service central department of state with broad ranging responsibilities, primary of which is for intergovernmental and whole of government policy coordination and assisting the prime minister of Australia in managing the Cabinet of Australia. The PM&C was established in 1971 and traces its origins back to the Prime Minister's Department established in 1911.
The Public Service of Canada is the civilian workforce of the Government of Canada's departments, agencies, and other public bodies.
In Australia, a departmental secretary is the most senior public servant of an Australian Government or state government department. They are typically responsible for the day-to-day actions of a department.
The title secretary of state or state's secretary is commonly used for senior or mid-level posts in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple secretaries of state in the country's system of governing the country.
The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. The Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and all Civil Services of India work under the rules of business of the government.
