Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 4 July 2017.
Carwyn Jones
Labour
1:58,
4 July 2017
Yes, I do very much welcome Debbie’s election. She’s the first of many, I hope, because we can’t say that local government representatives are truly representative of the entire community in Wales. We’re a long way from being able to say that. I can say that, prior to the local elections, we ran a number of projects as part of the diversity in democracy programme; 51 individuals from under-represented groups participated in the programme, and 16 of them stood as candidates in the local government elections this May. So, some progress, but true to say much progress needs to happen yet.
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.
