Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 5 July 2017.
Mark Drakeford
Labour
2:06,
5 July 2017
Well, the Member is right enough in the history that he set out about attempts to reform local government in Wales. I think he’s over-harsh on the extent to which local government in Wales has been able to live within its means and has been able to contribute, together, to some major strategic programmes. But, quite certainly, the need to come together in order to be able to discharge strategic responsibilities on a wider footprint is what lies behind the 10 local authorities that came together to form the Cardiff capital city deal and the four local authorities that have succeeded in getting a city deal for Swansea. By coming together in that way, they are undoubtedly able to work better across their borders, to create budgets to which they are all able to contribute, draw on money from central and Welsh Government budgets, and do a better job of the sort of responsibilities that the Member identified.
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.
