Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 7 December 2016.
Siân Gwenllian
Plaid Cymru
1:36,
7 December 2016
Last week, I visited a very prosperous small business in my Constituency. They are trying to purchase the building that they lease from Welsh Government at present and they’re on an industrial estate at the edge of Caernarfon. They want to acquire the building in order to expand their business. The company that came to value the unit on behalf of the Government came from Bristol. Their price for the value of the property was much higher than the price given by the local company from north Wales that had been used by the tenant to determine the price. So, there was one price from Bristol, one from north Wales and tens of thousands of pounds of disparity in the cost. The first question is: why is the Government using a company from England? That, presumably, is contrary to the procurement policies of this Government. Do you agree that the local valuation company has a much better understanding of the local prices? Do you agree also that this company is under great disadvantage because of this situation? They can’t proceed to purchase on the valuation given. So, please, will you look at this again?
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.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
