1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office – in the Senedd at on 17 July 2024.
Luke Fletcher
Plaid Cymru
8. What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care regarding additional funding for community health organisations? OQ61459
Rebecca Evans
Labour
2:10,
17 July 2024
I have regular discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care as part of our annual budget process and regular monitoring. These include discussions on preparations for the 2025-26 draft budget, recognising that public finances continue to be extremely challenging, going forward.
Luke Fletcher
Plaid Cymru
Thank you for that response.
Luke Fletcher
Plaid Cymru
A constituent of mine, Joanne, runs Empower Inspire, which does some incredible work with those living with dementia. Now, Empower Inspire was established in January 2022 to provide desperately needed social support for people still feeling the effects of isolation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Joanne's organisation regularly takes referrals from local authorities and the local health board, but receives nothing by way of funding to keep up with this extra demand. They're making a huge difference to people's lives, but it has become extremely difficult to cover expenses such as wages and rents while constantly having to apply for funding. So, at the very least, will the Welsh Government offer support to adequately resource organisations such as Joanne's, especially when they help to relieve the pressures on local authorities and health boards?
Rebecca Evans
Labour
2:11,
17 July 2024
So, I do know that community interest companies and other businesses can be commissioned within primary care clusters to deliver local services to the community, and increasingly we do want local health boards and well-being services to collaborate in the delivery of those services, which makes sense to provide for a cluster population. Those might involve establishing a community interest company, for example. I'm not sure if that's the model that your constituent Joanne has, but I will, if I might, ask you to write with some further information about the particular challenges facing Joanne and her business in relation to being able to take on the referrals that she has and provide them with a service. And I'll make sure that it then has the attention of the Minister for health, who would be the responsible Minister in this space.
Elin Jones
Plaid Cymru
2:12,
17 July 2024
Question 9 [OQ61454] has been withdrawn. Question 10, Jenny Rathbone.
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.
