Tynwald & Government
	One function of any parliament is to scrutinise the work of Government (the Executive) and Tynwald is no exception. The scrutiny of government is part of the concept of Representative and Responsible government. In liberal democracies, governments are chosen by the people and answerable to them for their actions. However elections occur only infrequently and therefore responsibility is maintained by the executive being answerable to the parliament for its actions between elections. All three branches have various devices which can be used to achieve this goal. Some of these mechanisms apply to all three and some are specific to individual chambers. However the environment within which this scrutiny operates is very different from that of many other parliaments and assemblies in the British Isles, since unlike the U.K., Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man does not have a party system: there is no system of Government and Opposition and no whip system. In many ways this is very helpful since it means that Members approach issues on their merit rather than having to follow a "party line". It is also helpful because the Government does not have an in-built majority to force its measures through. The nine Ministers that make up the Council of Ministers are bound by a modified form of the convention of collective responsibility, but they are the only ones it applies to. Departmental Members, who are appointed by the Chief Minister from the membership of Tynwald, to assist Ministers, are not subject to the convention and are not junior ministers. Their only authority is that which a particular Minister delegates to a particular Member.