Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:37 pm on 15 May 2024.
Huw Irranca-Davies
Labour
2:37,
15 May 2024
Well, Llywydd, today on the Senedd floor, the privilege we have to be here, there are 101 important environmental matters that could have been brought to my attention by Janet as the frontbench spokesman. Rather than that, she's focused on issues that the First Minister has already addressed repeatedly. And let me just say in terms of the red lines on this as well: there is a Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs—that's me. My responsibilities are there. In the same way that NRW has those very firm lines on what they do, without influence, and so on, so do I. That is my role. So, unless, Janet, you are directly questioning my integrity, then I say to you, let's talk about matters of substantial interest to Wales and the people of Wales and the quality of our natural environment, and let's get back to doing the day job.
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.
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.
