Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 20 April 2022.
Martin Whitfield
Labour
I am very grateful for the Cabinet secretary’s response, particularly what he said about the response that individuals should take. Recent years have shown that our cyber infrastructure has been tested by cyberattacks, such as the attack on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency back in 2020. With the war in eastern Europe raging on, will the cabinet secretary say what steps have been taken to audit and improve Scotland’s cybersecurity and to protect the country from the possibility of Russian state-sponsored attacks or attacks from criminal organisations that are based in Russia, which might use the conflict as a reason for attacks? What discussions has the cabinet secretary had with his counterpart in the United Kingdom Government?
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.
