Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 8 March 2017.
Mark Isherwood
Conservative
2:27,
8 March 2017
Well, thank you, and the biggie—it’s not in Wales, it’s in Derby, because local area co-ordination in the UK began in Derby in 2012, building on the very successful model implemented in Australia, which provides evidence of positive outcomes for citizens and savings. In Derbyshire, an independent evaluation by Derby university over 10 to 12 months found savings of £800,000 for the health and social care economy and also found that this had introduced and built relationships, established trust, worked to the person, using people strengths, and built connections with families and citizens to create solutions for those communities. This convinced the local authority and NHS there to invest and expand to all 17 council wards. So, if a project that has 50 people can improve lives, reconnect communities, and save £800,000, will you give serious consideration to how this model could be embraced here?
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.
