– in the Scottish Parliament at on 14 March 2024.
Paul Sweeney
Labour
Tomorrow, the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport board is set to approve bus franchising as part of its regional bus strategy, but the Scottish Government has cut SPT’s capital budget for the coming year to zero. That cut will hamper SPT’s ability to take our buses back under public control and deliver a better bus service for all of greater Glasgow. Does the First Minister welcome the bus franchise for greater Glasgow? If so, will he ensure that SPT has the funding necessary to ensure that it can be launched as soon as possible?
Humza Yousaf
Scottish National Party
It is because of legislation that was introduced by the Scottish National Party Government that bus franchising is possible. We are very pleased that we have enabled that to take place at a local level.
On our funding for local government, I remind the member that we are giving an increase in budget to our local authorities. We are always happy to engage with our local authorities and their partners, such as SPT, to see what more we can do to ensure that our public transport is as accessible and affordable as possible. My colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Transport will bring a debate to Parliament on the fair fares review, which, with the agreement of Parliament, will, I believe, be debated without a motion in order that we can have what I hope will be a good discussion on what further we can do to ensure that public transport—be it buses, railways or any other form of public transport—is as accessible and affordable as possible.
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.
