Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 3:16 pm on 10 July 2024.
Lynne Neagle
Labour
3:16,
10 July 2024
Thank you very much, Hefin. I'm very sorry to hear about the difficulties that the young person you referred to is having. I'm sure you recognise that mental health is a top priority for me and for the Government. That's why, despite our financial constraints, we've continued to protect funding for our whole-school approach for mental health, which we are investing around £13 million in this year. The Minister for Mental Health and Early Years and I are continuing to drive progress on that.
I do recognise, though, that there is more work to do. I think it's important to be clear that we've said that fines should only be used as a last resort. It's much more important to work with families, and fixed penalty notices should be the final part of a wider package of Intervention and support strategies to improve attendance, and that should include support with mental health and well-being in line with the statutory framework we've put in place, underpinning our whole-school approach to mental health. Children do need to see school as a safe and welcoming place.
I should also say that we have seen an increase in the numbers of children and young people who are having difficulties attending school due to what we call EBSA, emotionally-based school avoidance, and our Welsh Government guidance on that asks schools to make sure that they've completed the assessments and take a graduated response to EBSA that involves early diagnosis, a whole-school approach, communication with families, and building on strong relationships in schools.
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.
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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.
