Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:48 pm on 13 June 2023.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:48, 13 June 2023

First of all, I welcome very much the fact that today is the first day of full hearings at the independent UK inquiry. I hope very much that it will be able to provide answers for those families who lost loved ones and whose lives were affected by the awful experience of COVID. I think that they will be at the forefront of our minds, as well as the minds of the inquiry today.

The matters that the Leader of the Opposition raises are now matters for the inquiry. That is why there is an inquiry, and I'm not going to be able to offer him a running commentary on individual aspects of the inquiry's work that he chooses to raise with me. The issue of care homes and care home discharges, I agree with him, is a very important issue. It is identified by the inquiry as such. It is in the programme of modules that the inquiry will pursue in the autumn. I have no doubt at all that it will require evidence from the Welsh Government and, no doubt, witnesses from the Welsh Government on the decisions that were made here. But the point of an inquiry is for the inquiry to pursue those issues now, and that's where the Welsh Government's efforts will be focused.

Minister

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.

leader of the opposition

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.