Mr. David Moloney:

The Carltona doctrine is basically the idea that a civil servant may carry out actions on behalf of the Minister, acting in the place of the latter. The Minister is a corporation sole and the Department as a whole performs functions on his or her behalf. That does not require any act of express delegation; it is simply a way and means of carrying out the business of the Minister and the Department. It is sometimes set out specifically in legislation, sometimes by precedent, that certain functions cannot be carried out except by the Minister. Certain orders, for example, can only be signed by him or her. Broadly, however, in the day-to-day running of the Department, the Carltona doctrine, in effect, represents this idea of a corporation sole, whereby the officials of a Department are acting on behalf of the Minister in what they do.