Part of Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 22 May 2024.
Gillian Martin
Scottish National Party
Mr Golden is right to point to that. The household recycling rate is at around 42 per cent at the moment. The overall recycling rate in Scotland as a whole is 62.3 per cent.
Across these islands, the Welsh have the best recycling rates in the UK, and their approach is informed by much of what is in the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill. Their approach gave more powers to local authorities to address household contamination and set targets for councils. I am in close, regular contact with the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs for Wales, Huw Irranca-Davies. Indeed, he is working with me and UK Government and Northern Ireland ministers on the game-changer in waste collection, which is a UK-wide deposit return scheme.
We might want to reflect that, if our DRS in Scotland had started in March, as it was supposed to, 80 per cent of drinks containers would have been recycled this year, rising to 90 per cent next year. That would have made a huge impact on our waste recycling targets. Let us let the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill go through, and let us work with other UK nations to get a DRS back on track.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
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.
