Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:51 pm on 18 September 2024.
Jenny Rathbone
Labour
2:51,
18 September 2024
Thank you, Altaf Hussain, for raising this issue. One of the reasons we want to have devolved criminal justice is in order to prevent more people going into prisons, when there must be alternatives if they break the law. I want to ask you two questions about your conversations with the prisons and probation service head for Wales. One, have you had any discussions about how they could increase the provision of speech and language therapists in youth offending teams following the best practice of Neath Port Talbot, because it’s really important that young people who come into the criminal justice system understand what is going on? And if they genuinely cannot understand it, as they have a learning disability or a particular communication difficulty, we really need to question whether or not they are appropriately placed within youth offending. Equally, they need to be able to understand what the courts have said they must not do. So, that's one issue, and those professionals are really badly needed across Wales. Secondly, what discussions have you had about the release from prison of a lot of prisoners because of the gross overcrowding? What efforts have been made by the Ministry of Justice, working with local authorities, to ensure every prisoner has accommodation to go to because, otherwise, they will simply end up back in prison?
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.
