– in the Scottish Parliament at on 15 November 2023.
Marie McNair
Scottish National Party
1. To ask the Scottish Government how it is assessing feedback to the “Building a New Scotland” series of papers. (S6O-02712)
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
The Minister, Jamie Hepburn, is joining us remotely.
Jamie Hepburn
Scottish National Party
First, I apologise to Marie McNair and other members for not being able to be in the chamber in person today.
We are assessing feedback through a variety of measures including round-table events with relevant stakeholders and ministers following paper launches, and other ministerial and official-level stakeholder engagement.
Marie McNair
Scottish National Party
A recent
“Building a New Scotland” paper sets out the Scottish Government’s proposals for a humane and principled migration policy after independence. The United Kingdom’s hostile environment policies came into effect under former Prime Minister David Cameron. This week, he is back in Cabinet, unelected and unaccountable. Does the Minister agree that the sooner Scotland can introduce our own migration policy that treats migrants with respect, the better it will be?
Jamie Hepburn
Scottish National Party
Yes, I agree with that. I also welcome the fact that Parliament voted just yesterday in favour of that proposition. Despite the welcome withdrawal of Suella Braverman from Government, I cannot say that the return of David Cameron or the appointment of James Cleverly as her replacement fills me with much optimism that the UK Government is changing tack. I hope that it will reflect on today’s Supreme Court judgment in respect of its Rwanda policy, which has already cost the taxpayer some £140 million in payments to the Rwandan Government, and that it will adjust accordingly. However, I hold out little hope of that. Only with independence can we create a sensible and humane immigration system.
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.
