Ministerial responsibility and the Scottish qualifications agency

The Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA) is charged with the task of overseeing school-based qualifications in Scotland. However, for the 2000 exam diet the SQA failed to produce either timely or accurate exam results. The events surrounding this failure, accompanied by the responsible minister's explanation of his own actions and inactions, brought to the fore issues of responsibility and accountability. The unresolved nature of accountability and responsibility within government, particularly in relation to non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), became apparent as the inquiries into the SQA took evidence. Utilizing the SQA as a powerful example, this article explores the problematic structures of accountability and responsibility that exist between NDPBs and ministers. The doctrine of individual ministerial responsibility has been significantly weakened over the last ten years or so, so that it can no Ion er be said, in our view, that it is a fundamental doctrine of the constitution. (Jowell and Oliver 2000, p. viii).