Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:48 pm on 13 July 2016.
Darren Millar
Conservative
2:48,
13 July 2016
It doesn’t surprise me, Cabinet Secretary, that you fail to mention the referral-to-treatment-times targets, which of course have been missed on a regular basis and have been for many years here in Wales. And, of course, the hospital that serves my constituents, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, has some appalling referral-to-treatment times that it’s currently working to: ear, nose and throat appointments, 36 weeks, just for the first outpatient appointment; restorative dentistry, 35 weeks; orthodontics, 76 weeks from referral to first appointment; pain management, 42 weeks. The list goes on. When are you going to pull your finger out and get this situation sorted, so that my constituents can get access to services when they need them?
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
