Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 13 June 2023.
Mark Drakeford
Labour
1:50,
13 June 2023
It's a reasonable question, and here is my answer, and it's the same answer I gave him the first time: that these are matters now in front of the inquiry. Personally, I think it is disrespectful to the inquiry to try to shift the responsibility that they have into questions to me here. I will answer those questions in front of the inquiry that has been set up for this purpose. I won't second-guess what will be said there, I won't anticipate what the inquiry will want to know from me. There's an inquiry established, I want it to succeed, that is where my attentions will be directed. That's where answers to questions on this and many, many other aspects of the COVID experience are now properly to be answered.
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.
