Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 17 October 2017.
Paul Davies
Conservative
2:06,
17 October 2017
First Minister, you will be aware of the sad case of Seren Bernard in my Constituency, who committed suicide in 2012 whilst under the care of Pembrokeshire County Council social services. I saw her mother some weeks ago to discuss the report of Pembrokeshire council into this case, and this report isn’t to be published for legal reasons. It is important that issues such as this are dealt with in an open and transparent manner, so that lessons can be learnt by local authorities. So, following on from Simon Thomas’s questions, what specific guidance will you, as Government, publish to local authorities in cases such as this to ensure that lessons are learnt in order to safeguard more children in the future?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
