Isle of Man Government

Isle of Man
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
the Isle of Man

The Isle of Man Government (Manx: Reiltys Ellan Vannin) is the government of the Isle of Man. The formal head of the Isle of Man Government is the Lieutenant Governor, representing Queen Elizabeth II, Lord of Mann. The executive head is the Chief Minister.

Douglas, the largest town on the Isle of Man, is its capital and seat of government, where the Government offices and the parliament chambers (Tynwald) are located.

The Civil Service has more than 2,000 employees and the total number of public sector employees including the Civil Service, teachers, nurses, police, etc. is about 9,000 people. This is somewhat more than 10% of the population of the Island, and a full 23% of the working population. This does not include any military forces, as defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom.

Government structure

The Government consists of 7 departments, 9 statutory boards, 5 offices, and 9 other quasi-independent agencies (Public Lottery Trust, Manx Heritage Foundation, Arts Council, Sports Council, Swimming Pool Authorities, Local Government, Planning Authority, Health and Safety Executive Authority, Road Transport and Licensing Committee) all reporting to the Council of Ministers. The departments all report directly to the Council of Ministers.

Governmental personnel

Cabinet Office

Departments

Statutory Boards

Offices

Other Agencies

Functions of government

The structure and functions of the Departments were re-organised with effect from 1 April 2010. The existing Departments, except the Treasury and the Departments of Education and Home Affairs, were dissolved, and the Department of Education was renamed "the Department of Education and Children".[1] The Departments and their functions are now as follows:

Brief history

Lieutenant Governor

Before modern times the government of the Isle of Man was in the hands of the Governor (or Lieutenant Governor), who was the representative of the Lord of Man, assisted by his Council, consisting of the other permanent officials (the Bishop, Archdeacon, Deemsters, Attorney General, etc.).[2] The Council evolved into the Legislative Council, the upper chamber of Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man.

After the Revestment in 1765 the Lieutenant Governor and his officials were the agents of the British Government, and not democratically responsible to the Manx people. Conflict between the House of Keys (popularly elected after 1866) and the Lieutenant Governor came to a head during the tenure of Lord Raglan (1902–18).

Council of Ministers

After World War I the Lieutenant Governor gradually ceded control to Tynwald, a process guided by the reports of commissions and other bodies in 1911,[3] 1959[4] and 1969.[5] An Executive Council, chaired by him and including members of Tynwald, was established in 1949, and gradually thereafter became the effective government of the Island. Finance and the police came under local control between 1958 and 1976.[6] The Lieutenant Governor ceased to chair the Executive Council in 1980, being replaced by a chairman elected by Tynwald,[7] and the Council was reconstituted in 1985 to include the chairmen of the eight principal Boards;[8] in 1986 they were given the title 'Minister' and the chairman was styled 'Chief Minister'.[9] In 1990 the Council was renamed the 'Council of Ministers'.[10]

Departments

During the 19th century several bodies, which came to be known as 'Boards of Tynwald', were created to exercise functions under democratic control. These included the Board of Education (1872), Highway Board (1874), Asylums Board (1888), Government Property Trustees (1891) and Local Government Board (1894). However, although direct taxation was levied by Tynwald, the Boards' freedom of action before the 1960s was limited by the Lieutenant Governor's control of the Island's budget and his power to appoint certain of their members.

The structure of the Boards of Tynwald, along with other bodies variously called 'Statutory Boards' and 'Commercial Boards', became increasingly unwieldy after the 1950s, and was eventually reformed in the 1980s, when a system of 'ministerial government' was set up.[11]

The Departments and Statutory Boards which existed before the reorganisation in 2010, and their predecessors, are shown below:

(1) The Board continued in existence as a popularly elected body, but with reduced functions, after the Department of Education was created in 1987; it was not finally dissolved until June 2009.

References

  1. ↑ Transfer of Functions (New Departments) (No.2) Order 2010 (Statutory Document 155/10)
  2. ↑ Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry for the Isle of Man, 1792
  3. ↑ Report of the Departmental Committee on the Constitution etc. of the Isle of Man, 1911, Cd.5950 (the 'MacDonnell Report')
  4. ↑ Report of the Commission on the Isle of Man Constitution, 1959 (the MacDermott Report')
  5. ↑ Report of the Joint Working Party on the Constitutional Relationship between the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom, 1969 (the 'Stonham Report')
  6. ↑ Finance Act 1958, Finance Act 1962, Police (Isle of Man) Act 1962, Governor's Financial and Judicial Functions (Transfer) Act 1976: Statutes of the Isle of Man
  7. ↑ Constitution (Executive Council) (Amendment) Act 1980
  8. ↑ Constitution (Executive Council) Act 1984
  9. ↑ Constitution (Executive Council) (Amendment) Act 1986
  10. ↑ Council of Ministers Act 1990
  11. ↑ Gumbley, K F W (1988), "Government Departments and Statutory Boards", Manx Law Bulletin, 10: 61–73

Coordinates: 54°09′06.6″N 4°28′48.6″W / 54.151833°N 4.480167°W / 54.151833; -4.480167

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