Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 16 May 2017.
Mr Simon Thomas
Plaid Cymru
2:23,
16 May 2017
Could I ask the Cabinet Secretary for two statements from the Government? The first is quite simple—we’ve just announced, of course, that all parties in Wales are in favour of scrapping the Severn bridge tolls. I welcome that and look forward to it, but it does leave one bridge—just one bridge—in Wales that does have tolls, and that’s the Cleddau bridge. The Cleddau bridge is wholly in the hands of the Welsh Government: that is Pembrokeshire owns it at the moment, but it’s the Welsh Government’s intention to trunk the road over the Cleddau bridge—that’s been stated by the former Minister, Edwina Hart, and restated in principle by Ken Skates, too. Therefore, what are the Government’s intentions in terms of the Severn bridge—to scrap the tolls on that bridge, the only tollbridge in Wales where a bridge goes from one part of an enterprise zone to another? So, let’s ensure that Wales is free of tolls—realising the dreams of the daughters of Rebecca at last.
The second statement I’d like from Government is a little more complex. It relates to a planning application for a cabin holiday park in Beddgelert. Now, I don’t expect the Government to make a statement on the particular planning application, but the campsite in Beddgelert is to be done away with, and there’s a planning application for holiday cabins in its place, which includes hot tubs and all sorts of other things, as well as a shop and a centre and such things.
The plan underpinning this is part of something that’s emerged from the old Forestry Commission and, therefore, I want a statement from the Government on the role of Natural Resources Wales in this application. As I understand it, NRW, as the successor body to the Forestry Commission, has a 20 per cent stake in this scheme, and if it does proceed and is successful in terms of its planning application, then NRW will receive £48,000 per annum in rent for 16 holiday cabins, which is £3,000 per cabin. Of course, the problem here is that NRW is also a regulator for the site, and NRW as a regulator hasn’t raised any objections on the development. Therefore, you have a governmental body that is regulating and is also responsible as an investor. I’d like to hear from the Welsh Government how exactly they expect NRW to balance that position and to ensure that everything is done properly to ensure that local people can be assured that they’re doing their proper work in safeguarding the local environment.
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.
