Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 28 February 2023.
Liam Kerr
Conservative
There is appalling disrespect for the Parliament in the Cabinet secretary’s refusal to answer or even address the question that I have put. There is, of course, a bigger picture around what that says about the Government.
On 15 November 2022, I asked Minister Lorna Slater:
“When did ministers first become aware that they were using a figure that, to quote Scottish Government officials, had not ‘been properly sourced’”?
She said:
“Ministers became aware of the issue on Tuesday 8 November”. —[
Official Report
, 15 November 2022; c 6.]
In an email dated 16 November 2022, the cabinet secretary wrote to his constituent that ministers became aware on 8 November that the 25 per cent statistic was not an accurate figure.
The cabinet secretary emailed me last week stating:
“Officials emailed advice to my private office against using the 25% statistic ... on the 28th September 2022”,
which suggests that the information that he gave to his constituents was not correct.
Page 41 of the ministerial code, under the heading “Honesty”, says:
“Holders of public office should be truthful.”
At section 1.3(c), it says:
“Ministers who knowingly mislead the Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the First Minister”.
Given that the circumstances that I have detailed suggest that there have been major breaches of that code, when will the cabinet secretary and Minister Lorna Slater be tendering their resignations in disgrace?
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.
