Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:20 pm on 14 March 2017.
Carl Sargeant
Labour
5:20,
14 March 2017
I know the Member will be aware about the ministerial responsibility and she’s very interested in these schemes and is pursuing some further advice from her officials.
The Minister’s asked for a study on the potential for new legislation to extend producer responsibility in Wales and to make the producers of products and packaging more responsible for the costs of the end-of-life management of waste, including litter. High recycling rates are only part of the story and the Minister’s spoken many times of the need for a more circular economy for Wales to realise the benefits of being a high-recycling society. It is now time to take some steps to accelerate that process.
There are some materials in household rubbish for which there are not yet market solutions. We’ve already had successful programmes to secure new waste treatment services, such as anaerobic digestion and energy from waste, but we also need new collection and treatment options for a wider range of products like plastics, absorbent hygiene products, such as disposable nappies, and we also need facilities for hard-to-recycle item, such as carpets, mattresses and textiles. Again, the Minister has asked her officials to work with local authorities to look at how this can be achieved. They’re also looking at the opportunity to develop additional infrastructure to take advantage of changes in packaging and waste composition.
Many people in Wales shop online and have items delivered to their households in cardboard packaging. The Confederation of Paper Industries is the largest trade body representing paper and corrugated card manufacturing companies in the UK. It advises that the UK is the biggest net importer of paper and card in the world. One of the reasons is the lack of capacity to recycle paper and cardboard in the UK. The opportunity, Llywydd, exists to create additional paper manufacturing capacity to recycle this recovered paper and board into new products and create the much-needed jobs in the communities these projects would bring. Making sure these opportunities come to Wales is a priority. The Minister intends to announce in the future the measures she will take working with Cabinet colleagues to ensure additional infrastructure for us here in Wales. It’s against this backdrop and with great pride that today I move this motion.
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.
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.
