Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs

QNR – in the Senedd at on 1 February 2017.

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Photo of Rhianon Passmore Rhianon Passmore Labour

(Translated) What action is the Welsh Government taking to help combat fly-tipping?

Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour

The Welsh Government continues to fund Fly-tipping Action Wales, an initiative co-ordinated by Natural Resources Wales and which aims to secure a long-term reduction in fly-tipping through a combination of measures. We are also currently consulting on the introduction of fixed penalty notices for small scale fly-tipping.

Photo of Caroline Jones Caroline Jones UKIP

(Translated) What steps is the Welsh Government taking to protect the Welsh countryside from over-development?

Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour

National planning policy provides a comprehensive framework for protecting the countryside from overdevelopment. At the same time, national planning policy encourages an approach towards rural areas that supports living and working communities that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

Photo of Steffan Lewis Steffan Lewis Plaid Cymru

(Translated) Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on environmental vandalism?

Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour

Environmental vandalism is an issue the Welsh Government takes very seriously and is committed to continue tackling. Our Well-being of Future Generations Act encourages us to focus on prevention, to involve people in well integrated measures and for collaboration across organisations as we work for long term, sustainable solutions.

Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative

(Translated) Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on woodland management in Wales?

Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour

Plans for woodland management are guided by the Welsh Government’s forestry strategy, ‘Woodlands for Wales’, and will in future be shaped by the national natural resources policy. The strategy establishes the long-term vision for the sustainable management of Wales’s woodlands and trees to provide benefits for future generations.

Cabinet

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.