Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:20 pm on 28 March 2017.
Mr Simon Thomas
Plaid Cymru
2:20,
28 March 2017
I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that statement, which didn’t actually say what he was going to do about it, however, which I hope he will now tell us. First of all, can he just clarify the situation? Because I think there could be some confusion, following the leader of the Conservative party’s questions earlier on, that though the health boards have not been bailed out, his department has been bailed out to the tune of a similar amount of money. The supplementary budget that we passed a couple of weeks ago actually gives his department this money, not the health boards themselves, and therefore there has been a bail-out, in effect. And so, if there hasn’t been any consequences for the health boards, we must ask ourselves, ‘How can we achieve better financial planning going forward?’ The First Minister mentioned the NHS finance Act, which was passed three years ago by this Assembly. When that Act was passed, the then Minister said and promised that we would get better financial planning, and went on to promise that it should result in better decision making and optimal solutions by local health boards. I don’t think we can say we’ve had better financial planning or optimal solutions from health boards since the passing of that Act. Can he confirm that there’s still a financial duty on health boards to not exceed the aggregate in each financial year, even taking a three-year planning model, and what consequences can there be for health boards in not meeting proper financial planning under the NHS finance Act? And isn’t it time at least to consider not paying the allowances and payments to members of the health boards if they cannot bring themselves into line?
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.
