Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 14 May 2024.
Vaughan Gething
Labour
2:17,
14 May 2024
Well, the starting point is that I disagree with the Member's claim that the Bill that we have passed to reform this Senedd will take our Parliament away from the people. I believe absolutely that people will still see a Parliament that works for them and with them. It is about the job that we do as elected Members to ensure that people feel welcome in what will happen. And if you look around the gallery, you see many people from parts of Wales who have come here to see these proceedings directly themselves—exactly what you would wish. And, actually, our colleagues in Westminster are kept further apart from people in the way that that Parliament operates. We're a much more open institution, and I hope we can keep that in the future as we expand and deliver on the mandate that came in multiple manifestos from the last election.
On your broader point around recall, the Government will work constructively with all parties and, indeed, the standards commission, on the work that they are doing, taking account, of course, of the comments made in Adam Price's amendments, which I'm pleased he didn't move to a vote, because I want to work with people, around the points on deception and honesty. Those have to be things, I think, that take account of the standards process. It may well not be Government legislation that delivers a change, but we are committed to work constructively with all parties to try to have this issue resolved before the next Senedd election, so it is in place so people understand the measures that would bite if Members fell significantly below the standards of conduct that we all should expect of each other.
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.