– in the Scottish Parliament at on 4 March 2021.
Jamie Halcro Johnston
Conservative
On 10 February, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity told me in committee that the Scottish Government remained committed to the A9 and A96 projects and the timeframe that had been set out for them. At First Minister’s Question Time on the same day, the First Minister was more cautious, suggesting that progress would be made “as quickly as possible”. The transport secretary has written to me and confirmed that a meaningful update on what he now describes as
“a very challenging target completion date” will not be available until after the Scottish elections and after the summer.
Will the First Minister be honest with my constituents and admit that the Scottish Government does not expect work to dual the A9 in its entirety between Inverness and Perth to be completed by the 2025 target date?
Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish National Party
We will do everything that we can to do that work as quickly as possible, taking full account of the Covid implications, which have been inescapable for everybody. If possible, we will do that within the original target dates, and if that is not possible we will do it as close to the original target dates as possible. Everybody understands the delays occasioned by Covid and we will make sure that we work to reduce the impact of those as much as we possibly can.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
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.
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.
