Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 6:47 pm on 25 June 2025.
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Labour
6:47,
25 June 2025
I want to pick up on a couple of points that the Cabinet secretary made. First, I thank her for her support for some of the amendments in the group.
I do not take the same view as the cabinet secretary on the issue of the current board members of the SQA. The cabinet secretary said that my amendments would terminate the appointment of those members, but they would not do so—if those members demonstrated the skills, ethos, culture and values that are hoped for and wanted in the new qualifications body, either a short appraisal mechanism, which is one of the options, or the full reappointment process would be available. Both options are there. If the cabinet secretary is so confident that the current leadership right now would stand the test of time, at least the Amendment on reappraisal would be a compromise.
Absolute integrity and trust in the organisation that is being set up are critical. That is probably one of the most important things that can be done with the bill. We need a mechanism so that the leadership cannot just transfer wholesale without a stop-and-check to consider whether they have the values that we need them to have and whether they have understood what the different body that Parliament might create wants and is. It is just a check and balance—that is it. I am afraid that I will press those amendments.
With that, in the interests of time, I will stop my comments and press amendment 267.
Amendment 267 agreed to.
Amendment 268 moved—[Pam Duncan-Glancy]—and agreed to.
Amendment 269 moved—[Martin Whitfield].
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.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
