Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 5 July 2017.
Adam Price
Plaid Cymru
1:47,
5 July 2017
The First Minister last week said that the ONS are not able to give a definitive ruling until contracts are signed in relation to project proposals, but it is the case that they are able to give a provisional ruling on classification. I’m relying here, Cabinet Secretary, on the ONS official guidance on the classification process, which says:
ONS is occasionally asked to provide classification advice on policy proposals so that the government can understand how these proposals would be treated in the national accounts… Any classification decision based on a near-final policy proposal will be deemed as “provisional” and dependent on the proposal being implemented as described.’
So, my question, Cabinet Secretary, is this: did the Government, in relation to this project, seek not general advice as to the risk of a classification, but a provisional ruling, as set out under section 6, Government policy proposals, of the ONS classification process guidelines?
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.
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War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
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