New ministers will need to prioritise to get things done in office

Whatever the outcome of the election, there is likely to be a new group of ministers arriving in government. Junior ministers are less well-known than their Cabinet bosses but are the ‘workhorses’ of their departments, responsible for making detailed policy decisions, shepherding legislation through Parliament and representing the government to outside groups.

However, despite the importance of their roles, junior ministers may not have long in the job – the average tenure of ministers between 1997 and 2015 was just 21 months. It is not always easy to make a mark in such a short time.  

It is easy for new junior ministers to be overwhelmed

Previous ministers who have spoken to the IfG have all commented on the whirlwind of the first few days in the job. Getting to grips with the detail of a new policy area is hard enough. George Eustice, who had been on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee before being appointed a junior Defra minister, was nonetheless struck by ‘the sheer complexity of some of these policy areas.’ Getting to grips with the copious amounts of briefing a new minister receives requires a lot of time.

But as well as understanding the policy issues they are now responsible for, ministers may well need time to understand exactly what is expected of them in their new job. Caroline Spelman said that she and some of her fellow ministers ‘didn’t actually know what was required of us’, having never held a ministerial job before. Depending on the result of the election, there may well be a lot of new ministers who have no experience of working in government at all.

New junior ministers need to manage their time and get control of their diaries

All former ministers talk about how they found their diary could quickly get out of control. Tracey Crouch, who was appointed a minister just before going on holiday, described the delivery of a box of government papers to her hotel room as the moment she realised that ‘your timetable was not your own anymore.’

If ministers are not careful, they will find that meetings with people inside and outside government will take over their time. Ed Vaizey said that ‘I did not manage my diary very well. I tended to meet a lot of people’. This meant that he didn’t have time to think about the things that he really wanted to get done: ‘I wasn’t clever enough to plan ahead and think “I’m making this speech in two months’ time, let’s think about an announcement that I can make”’.

Keeping on top of the diary is essential, particularly as ministers will often be travelling, visiting businesses and public services around the country, representing the UK abroad, or heading back to their constituency to fulfil their duties as an MP. Hugo Swire found it helpful to discuss all the aspects of his diary together: ‘I used to have my wife come in sometimes. Sue [from his House of Commons office] would come over, my diary secretary would be there and they’d literally be bidding for bits of me!’

Prioritising a few areas will help ministers to make the most of their time in office

To avoid spending all their time in meetings and failing to make any meaningful change, new ministers will need to choose where to focus. Some priorities will be set by the prime minister or secretary of state, but junior ministers still have some leeway. Jacqui Smith felt her most successful experiences as a minister came when she ‘took advantage of that period of time [at the start of a new role] to say, ‘The priorities I’m really interested in are x and y’, before those things get imposed on you.’ This will be easier for ministers who come into government with a clear sense of what it is they want to achieve, and for those who have been shadowing the brief while in opposition.

This does not mean that ministers will not have to deal with non-priority issues. Robert Neill explained how junior ministers in particular ‘do an awful lot of the routine stuff, the nuts and bolts’ of government, including answering letters and responding to MPs’ questions in Parliament. Between the routine issues, constituency duties and family life, the next crop of junior ministers are likely to face the same challenges as their predecessors in making the most of their time in office. They may not be in the post for long. Choosing a limited number of priorities will help ensure that they leave office feeling like they have achieved something.