Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care – in the Senedd at 2:30 pm on 1 May 2024.
Gareth Davies
Conservative
2:30,
1 May 2024
With the issue of preventative health being raised, I would like to take the opportunity to raise the issue of bowel cancer prevention in Wales. Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the second-biggest cancer killer in Wales. There has been good progress on testing for Lynch syndrome in Wales, which is a condition associated with genetic predisposition to bowel cancer, but approximately 30 per cent of bowel cancer cases in the UK are linked to a fibre-deficient diet, 11 per cent linked to obesity, and 7 per cent linked to tobacco. A combination of these behaviours will significantly increase your chances of developing the disease. So, could the Cabinet Secretary outline what action the Welsh Government is taking to raise awareness of the behavioural risk factors associated with bowel cancer? Thank you.
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.
