The States of Deliberation is both parliament and executive, but it delegates some of its executive functions to policy-specific committees, which are known as States Departments, each of which is run by five political members, all of whom have equal voting power.

Despite having explicitly rejected a proposal to adopt an executive/ministerial system of government in 2002, the head of each department was known as minister.

The Policy Council consisted of the ministers/presidents of each of the ten departments plus the chief minister, who chaired Policy Council and spoke for the island externally in political matters.

[1] The chief minister and all department heads are elected by all members of the States of Deliberation.

There also existed the post of Deputy Chief Minister, which was held by one of the department heads and was also elected by all members of the States of Deliberation.