Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 1 February 2022.
Ken Skates
Labour
1:41,
1 February 2022
First Minister, can I thank you for your answers to these important questions about rail infrastructure in north Wales? The most straightforward way to address historic underfunding would, of course, be to devolve responsibilities and appropriate funding to the Welsh Government, and we do still await UK Government funds to level up our railways in north Wales. But, First Minister, can you assure us that the Welsh Government remains keen to invest in rail services and rail facilities where and when it can, be it redundant railway stations or through support for incredibly important groups, such as the Friends of Chirk Station, the Friends of Ruabon Station in my Constituency?
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
