<p>The Availability of Common Ailment Schemes (South Wales Central)</p>

Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:51 pm on 7 December 2016.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:51, 7 December 2016

I quite agree, that is a direction of travel for this Government and there is a palpable difference in attitude between this Government and the UK Government to the community pharmacy sector. And it’s recognised and reflected back regularly from community pharmacy itself. In England, there’ll be a 4 per cent cut within this year for community pharmacy, going up to 7 per cent the year after. The millions of pounds that are coming out of the sector in England are not taking place here. We’re maintaining our funding for the community pharmacy sector and they’ve responded positively to the challenge that I set out about having a more quality-based system of payments. So, we’re not simply going to provide payment on the basis of volume and dispensing volumes, it will really be about a quality based element too. That is about them providing greater value and greater services to individuals. You’re right to point out that community pharmacies are embedded, they’re local, they’re available and they’re trusted by people. We need to take advantage of the fact that is the position of the highly skilled professionals working in those settings. So, I’m generally enthusiastic and positive about their role now and we expect to develop even more with them in the future as well.

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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.