Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 18 September 2024.
Jane Hutt
Labour
3:01,
18 September 2024
Well, thank you very much, Rhianon Passmore, for raising this beyond the particular concerns that you have got, which are expressed across this Chamber, about Blackwood Miners' Institute, to that more strategic question about the future of our arts and culture in Wales. Because we have to make sure that it is not only sustainable, but resilient for the benefit of future generations and current generations.
So, I would just draw Members' attention again to our draft priorities for culture. There was full consultation on the priorities. It closed on 4 September, and importantly, it included local authorities and they also responded to it. It has a very clear focus on access to culture, its role in placemaking, community well-being and care of historic assets—those are the key principles. So, I hope—and I know the local authorities have responded—that they will also see this in the context of their own cultural assets, like Blackwood Miners' Institute, and prioritise support accordingly.
Of course, we know, I have to say, that local authorities are under incredibly difficult budgetary pressure, and if the Cabinet Secretary for local government was here with me now, she would be nodding, I'm sure, and saying, 'They are under huge pressures and it is about priorities.' It's important that that consultation has taken place and that does help express what local priorities are.
The government chief whip, whose official title is parliamentary secretary to the Treasury, is appointed by the prime minister and is responsible to him.
The chief whip has to maintain party discipline and to try to ensure that members of the party vote with the government in important debates.
Along with the other party whips he or she looks after the day-to-day management of the government's business in Parliament.
The chief whip is a member of the Cabinet.
It is customary for both the government and the opposition chief whips not to take part in parliamentary debates.
The chief whip's official residence is Number 12 Downing Street.
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.
