<p>A Constitutional Convention</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 21 March 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of David Melding David Melding Conservative 2:02, 21 March 2017

First Minister, I think the problem with a constitutional convention is that you can’t really have one until after a second referendum in Scotland, which, at some point in the future, does look a possibility. I just wonder if your more immediate aims should be with the Prime Minister to see how the Joint Ministerial Committee system could be strengthened. I commend Mr Drakeford’s remarks on how that might happen, although not the style in which he made them. I think it was too caustic in Parliament when he compared the current process to St Fagans Community Council. [Laughter.] But, he did make some interesting points about how the JMCs could be made more robust, with agendas, a secretariat and a clear purpose and future work plan. That’s what you should be concentrating on.

Minister

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.

Prime Minister

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom