Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 17 April 2024.
Altaf Hussain
Conservative
2:23,
17 April 2024
I thank Sioned for raising this important question. While much of the recent focus has been on the fate of the communities around Ffos-y-Fran, communities in our region have been blighted by remnants of coal mining, both deep coal mining and opencast. Despite assurance, Parc Slip at Margam and East Pit in Neath Port Talbot remain unrestored. The concerns voiced by communities in Merthyr Tydfil have been voiced by communities in Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot for years without resolution. Cabinet Secretary, how will your Government ensure our constituents are not forced to live with the blight of mining activities and that sites like Parc Slip and East Pit are restored to nature at the earliest possible opportunity?
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
