Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 9 November 2023.
Claire Baker
Labour
I will ask a question about something that the Cabinet secretary has not mentioned. During the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s inquiry into town centres, we spoke to Fife small businesses about their bricks and clicks model and how important the digitalboost grant funding was.
The digital strategy had committed to expanding that fund, yet the budget was reduced in 2022-23 and the Government has made no plans for it this year. Instead, it is focusing on piloting digital productivity labs. The labs pilot scheme ended in June. What progress is being made on developing an improved digital support programme, and will the popular digitalboost grant be reinstated as part of that?
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.
