5.2 First, that the number of Ministers and their responsibilities does not enable focussed Ministerial oversight of the core departmental functions. There is often a lack of clarity over which Minister is taking the lead on particular issues. As part of our overall proposal for greater alignment of responsibility and accountability we recommend that the Defence Secretary considers redrawing Ministerial responsibilities to ensure that the Ministerial team maps on to the new model and, in light of recent increases in the number of Ministers, whether that number is still appropriate. Additionally, while we recognise that Ministerial appointments are the gift of the Prime Minister of the day, our comments in Part 13 on the importance of increasing the length of tenure of senior military and civilian staff apply equally to Ministerial appointments.