Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:52 pm on 13 June 2023.
Mark Drakeford
Labour
1:52,
13 June 2023
I think the Leader of the Opposition lets himself down, and, more importantly, he lets down the families who look to the inquiry to give them answers to those questions. When Ministers are asked that question in Holyrood and in Westminster, they will have the same answer, that the establishment of independent public inquiries to investigate these matters means that that is where these questions must now be answered. They are not to be answered in a piecemeal fashion by Shadow-boxing on the floor of the Senedd, when there is an independent inquiry with all the expertise that has been assembled around it to explore those questions and to give people the best answers that they can get. He can ask me the question every week, he will have the same answer: the right place, the place I believe where those questions are to be pursued, is where they ought to be, in the independent inquiry that has been established for that purpose. That is what Ministers in his Government will be saying in Westminster as well.
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.
The "Leader of the Opposition" is head of "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". This position is taken by the Leader of the party with the 2nd largest number of MPs in the Commons.
The shadow cabinet is the name given to the group of senior members from the chief opposition party who would form the cabinet if they were to come to power after a General Election. Each member of the shadow cabinet is allocated responsibility for `shadowing' the work of one of the members of the real cabinet.
The Party Leader assigns specific portfolios according to the ability, seniority and popularity of the shadow cabinet's members.
