Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 20 December 2016.
Neil Findlay
Labour
Organ damage, loss of a kidney, bladder removal, constant and excruciating chronic pain, pelvic inflammation, pierced vaginal walls, nerve damage, mental breakdown, reliance on wheelchairs and walking aids, husbands and partners injured during intercourse and family and marital breakdown: those are just some of the devastating and life-changing consequences that have been experienced by women who have received transvaginal mesh implants and who have been failed by some health boards, some health professionals, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and manufacturers, whose arrogance and complacency on mesh have been startling. According to the media, another 400 Scottish women have had implants since the so-called Scottish suspension in 2014. What message does the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport have for those women? Will she now make it clear to all NHS boards that they should follow the line of some health boards and ensure that no other women are fitted with mesh, pending the findings of the Government’s working group?
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.
