Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:53 pm on 27 June 2023.
Mark Drakeford
Labour
1:53,
27 June 2023
No I don't, Llywydd, and nor does the Minister. The Minister said very recently that the challenges facing Transport for Wales mean that the service that has been provided in some parts of Wales has not been of a standard that passengers are entitled to expect. It's why the Deputy Minister has been meeting rail users, particularly in those places where those difficulties have been greatest, to hear directly from those passengers, and to work with them and others to improve the service that is available here in Wales. There are a series of reasons that lie behind the difficulties that have been experienced. Travel patterns have altered since the pandemic—that is certainly true on the railways, as it has been in bus services, as we have discussed here on the floor of the Senedd. The rail industry everywhere is having to cope with changes in passenger numbers on the one hand and reduced investment by the UK Government on the other. It's why passengers in his part of the world, on the north Wales coast, have recently had their mainline services cut by Avanti West Coast, which itself puts additional pressure on those local services provided by Transport for Wales.
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.