Prior to 1964, there were five
government ministries responsible for the
British Armed Forces: the
Admiralty, the
War Office, the
Air Ministry, the
Ministry of Aviation, and
a smaller Ministry of Defence. By
Orders-in-Council issued under the Defence (Transfer of Functions) Act 1964, the functions of these bodies were transferred to the Defence Council and the
Secretary of State for Defence, who heads a larger Ministry of Defence. The Secretary of State for Defence, who is a member of the
Cabinet, chairs the Defence Council, and is accountable to the
King and to
Parliament for its business. The
letters patent constituting the Defence Council vest it with the power of command over
His Majesty's Forces and give it responsibility for their administration, or in the words of the
letters patent: In practice, the Defence Council is a formal body, and almost all its work is conducted by the
Defence Board. In addition, the three service boards (the
Admiralty Board, the
Army Board and the
Air Force Board), which are sub-committees of the Defence Council meet annually for each service chief to report to the Secretary of State on the health of their respective services. ==Membership==