Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 15 May 2024.
Rebecca Evans
Labour
2:03,
15 May 2024
The first thing to say is that we haven't yet developed the contracts that we will use for the franchising, but our existing contracts for TrawsCymru services will be used as a starting point because they have, already, some of the features that we would expect to see in franchising contracts. This work is being led by the Cabinet Secretary for transport, so he would be much better placed to provide you with detailed answers. But on the financing of it, as I said in my previous answer, we don't yet have budgets for these financial years, so I'm not able to provide any level of certainty to colleagues at this point. But I know, when it does come to the point of scrutinising the budget for those years, this will be a focus for colleagues.
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.
