This committee consists of a member elected from each department. Any member of a department may be elected, down to the lowest ranked trainee. They advise the Minister on various issues, from proposed budget cuts to new projects. In general, a new project or budget issue is passed first to the committee, who discusses it and then prepares an official recommendation to the Minister, who is free to follow it or not. In general the Minister tends to sign off on 90% of what the Executive Committee suggests, giving them a great deal of political clout.