– in the Scottish Parliament at on 12 August 2020.
Jackie Baillie
Labour
The First Minister will be aware that the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful is closed again as a result of a major land slip last week. I am sure that she will want to join me in thanking those who are working hard to reopen the road. However, all the political leaders in Argyll and Bute Council, Mike Russell, Donald Cameron and I have jointly written to the First Minister to press the case for more action to be taken, because the economic impact on the area is devastating. Will the First Minister agree to convene the A83 task force as a matter of urgency to focus on finding a permanent solution, and finding it quickly?
Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish National Party
I thank Jackie Baillie for raising that extremely serious issue. I also thank all the travellers and services who are involved for their forbearance and their work.
We must find a solution. Michael Matheson raised the issue at Cabinet yesterday, and he is seeking to take forward that joined-up approach to determining the best way forward. I assure members that the issue is of the utmost priority to the Government. Clearly, there is a lot of work to be done on developing a solution, and we will keep Parliament updated.
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.
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.
