Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:10 pm on 24 January 2017.
Mohammad Asghar
Conservative
2:10,
24 January 2017
The House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee has said recently that there is an urgent need for new trains on Wales’s rail network. It went on to say that passengers were tired of old and cramped trains, with some rolling stock in use being over 40 years old. Some locomotives are still running after their sell-by date. With the Wales and borders franchise coming up for renewal, First Minister, what discussions has the Welsh Government had with regard to providing modern trains to improve rail services for passengers in south-east Wales, which has been promised for a very long time now?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
