Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:07 pm on 5 July 2017.
Janet Finch-Saunders
Conservative
2:07,
5 July 2017
The Wales Audit Office has previously highlighted the spend by public bodies on external consultants—£56 million last year—and noted that if they do not manage consultancy services effectively, they can be an expensive way to deliver our public services. Meanwhile, the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership—NWSSP—achieved over £20 million in procurement savings in 2015-16, over £27.5 million in 2014-15, and £26.9 million in 2013-14. Given the scale of those savings, which are exemplary, one can only imagine what could be achieved at local government level across Wales. So, therefore, Cabinet Secretary, how will you seek to encourage the roll-out of best practice within the NWSSP across local authorities through your own reform proposals?
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.
