Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 6 December 2017.
Rhun ap Iorwerth
Plaid Cymru
2:06,
6 December 2017
I’m grateful for that response, and I’m pleased that those discussions are ongoing. I’m also grateful for the positive indications given by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport a week ago on the possibility of assistance on the A545 between Menai Bridge and Beaumaris. There will be financial implications beyond road maintenance, of course, and I would appreciate any support when that arrives. But in more general terms, austerity, of course, and the pressure that there has been on local government funding through the Welsh Government, makes it more difficult for councils to build the kinds of reserves that they would desire to have in order to respond to urgent issues such as floods or other occurrences. So, is there any intention within Welsh Government to look at the possibility of creating some sort of new contingency fund that would respond specifically to the difficulties faced by councils now in building the kind of reserves necessary?
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.
