Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 3 September 2020.
Claudia Beamish
Labour
I thank the Cabinet secretary for her answer, and note that she will inform us of those dates.
As the cabinet secretary knows, unpaid carers across Scotland have been putting in the toughest shifts during the pandemic, often without breaks. The 78,000 of them who got the additional supplement are, as many of us will have heard across Scotland, deeply grateful for that support, but many have also lost loved ones to the virus.
The cabinet secretary might be aware of the policy proposals from Marie Curie, Sue Ryder and Reform Scotland for a bereavement support bill, a fund for training and education for carers returning to work, a post-caring support payment and, importantly, a full six months of carers allowance after a carer is bereaved. Has the Government responded to those organisations, and will it be able to support at least some of those development proposals and take them forward?
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.
