Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 4:48 pm on 3 September 2024.
Clare Haughey
Scottish National Party
4:48,
3 September 2024
Last month, as she referenced in her statement, the Cabinet secretary visited Stonelaw high school in my Rutherglen Constituency, which developed its new mobile phone policy following a process of engagement and discussion with young people. Does the cabinet secretary agree that similar approaches will be key to ensuring that young people feel that they have shared ownership of their schools’ policies?
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.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
