– in the Scottish Parliament at on 4 March 2021.
Oliver Mundell
Conservative
Can the First Minister offer any reassurance to my constituents who are struggling to get information regarding their applications to the mobile and home-based close contact services fund and the newly self-employed hardship fund? Many have had no acknowledgement, others have been rejected without any explanation and more still are waiting for a follow-up in the next seven to 10 days.
Given the known issues with the schemes, will the First Minister guarantee that the funds will remain open until all applications have been processed correctly? What advice does she have for those who are worried that while they are waiting for the applications to be processed, they might miss out on the opportunity to apply for local authority discretionary funding?
Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish National Party
In general terms, I give the assurance that nobody will miss out on funding to which they are entitled due to administrative issues. I will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Finance to write to Oliver Mundell with more information on the specific funds that he has raised and any issues that are being experienced. We will continue to support business for as long as required as we—in the next couple of months, I hope—come out of lockdown and see businesses start to trade normally again.
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.
