Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:30 pm on 5 July 2017.
Mohammad Asghar
Conservative
1:30,
5 July 2017
Thank you for that reply, Cabinet Secretary. Last year, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council issued only two fixed-penalty notices, and Torfaen County Borough Council 13. However, Newport City Council issued 840 notices, compared to under 300 in previous years. Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council issued over 1,400 notices last year. What reason can the Cabinet Secretary give for the wide inconsistency in the number of fixed-penalty notices issued by local authorities in south-east Wales? And what assurances can he give that they are not being used as a means of increasing revenue only?
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.
