Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 24 January 2017.
Carwyn Jones
Labour
2:12,
24 January 2017
I do feel the Member has made himself the font, or the recipient, rather, of all rail-related complaints in the Assembly as a result of his declaration, but he makes an important point. Abertillery, of course, is included in the metro plans as an area of expansion. The railway tracks were last used when the Rose Heyworth mine was still in place some 30 years ago now, nearly. But it is a community that needs to be linked in. Where there are no existing heavy rail lines, then light rail clearly is a preference; it’s more easily extendable and we want to make sure that communities that lost their rail links some years ago do regain them as part of the metro plans.
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.
