Membership of the Cabinet is an important responsibility of Ministers, which should take precedence over all other duties.

Attendance at meetings of the Cabinet (and relevant Cabinet committees) is therefore mandatory for all Cabinet members except where travel or other duties have been previously approved by the Prime Minister. If a member is unable to attend a Cabinet meeting for any reason, the Secretary to the Cabinet must be informed immediately and the Chair’s permission obtained.

Absent Ministers may be represented by the acting Minister or by another designee, as agreed with the Prime Minister through the Secretary to the Cabinet. Unless urgent, all significant items for which the absent Minister is responsible shall be deferred to a subsequent meeting.

Ministers unable to attend a Cabinet meeting have a responsibility to brief the acting Minister or other delegate on matters to be considered in their absence and to indicate any views on proposals, so that the acting Minister can participate fully in the deliberation and Cabinet or the Committee can reach a firm decision. This avoids wasting other Ministers’ time when issues have to be reopened when the absent Minister returns.

No meeting of the Cabinet shall proceed unless a quorum of more than 50% of its members is present.

In addition to Cabinet members, meetings shall be attended by the Secretary to the Cabinet who is responsible for secretariat and administrative support to the Cabinet.

Ministry officials and other individuals shall not be present for Cabinet discussions except with the explicit permission of the Prime Minister. If a Minister wishes to have a Ministry official or other individual present for the Cabinet’s discussion of a particular agenda item, the Minister shall notify the Secretary to the Cabinet who will seek the permission of the Prime Minister. This notification must be submitted by 9am on the Wednesday prior to a Monday Cabinet meeting (to enable the Prime Minister to be approached at the same time as the meeting agenda is finalized and to give the official time to prepare).

Where the Prime Minister agrees, an official or other individual will be present for discussion of a specific agenda item to provide briefing to the Cabinet on technical issues and/or to answer questions on such issues. They shall not participate in Cabinet’s deliberation and should only be present for the relevant agenda item. They will normally withdraw from the Cabinet room before Cabinet makes its decision on the recommendations.

Officials who are invited to attend a Cabinet meeting should observe the established protocols and hierarchy of their departments. For example, a head of division should allow the head of department to speak first on a divisional issue and should not speak contrary to the head of department. The same applies to a deputy director.

Officials present at Cabinet meetings are subject to the confidentiality restrictions outlined in section 2.5.