Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 5 July 2017.
David Melding
Conservative
2:13,
5 July 2017
Cabinet Secretary, can I add my support to this growing trend as well? I understand there are over 80 companies and organisations now throughout Wales who are paying the foundation living wage, including, Presiding Officer, the National Assembly and Cardiff council. I think the point you make there is exactly the right one. We do have a productivity crisis in this country, and a lot of it is caused by wages being simply too low. That part of the economy does need to innovate, and also, obviously, provide those employed in it with decent standards of living. So, I think the productivity and efficiency argument is very, very important, and we’ll see more and more practice of this from the 80 companies and those that will join them in the years ahead, I’m sure.
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.
