Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:01 pm on 4 July 2017.
Joyce Watson
Labour
4:01,
4 July 2017
At the end of this week, Cabinet Secretary, I will be travelling to the north of my Constituency. In fact, I will be traveling to Harlech. When it comes to arranging meetings or any other events in Harlech, there is a natural place where we settle upon that is mutually convenient and extremely important to the area, and of course I’m talking about Harlech castle. I know that the community, like myself, are hugely grateful for the Welsh Government’s recent £6 million investment in the castle and consequently actually putting it back in good shape, now attracting more than 100,000 visitors last year, which was a 35 per cent increase. So, the extra protection afforded to places like that—historic monuments—is hugely important. It’s not only important to the preservation of the physical structure, but to the well-being of the local area. As you well know, it is a world heritage site and it sits within a nearby conservation area, a site of special scientific interest, and an area of special conservation.
So, the question that I have is: whilst we look after and preserve and put forward Acts that protect those buildings and those areas, you will know that within virtually the same footprint of that site we have the St David’s hotel, which is practically falling down. Some would like it to fall down very soon. I suppose my question is this: whilst we’re putting all the investment into the area, and whilst we’re putting lots of protection into the castle, it is marred by overlooking what is now a derelict building. On top of that, of course, there’s the uncertainty of the college site and also the theatre. But I know, Cabinet Secretary, that you’ve put some money into co-funding some regeneration work, and I wonder whether you’ll be able to tell me how much that investment was. I understand and appreciate that you’re in conversation with Gwynedd Council in trying to solve some of the problems, as well as Snowdonia National Park. But I also wonder whether you’re able to confirm, Cabinet Secretary, if you’re speaking with your colleague the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh language regarding the future of the college, the theatre and the site, so that when we do put in protection and we do put in some investment that actually does deliver positive change, it isn’t spoiled by those things that it overlooks.
The language of Wales spoken by around 25% of the population. It is an Indo-European language and belongs to the Celtic group. It was made "offical" in Wales by the Welsh Language Act 1993. It is known in Welsh as Cymraeg.
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.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
