Part of Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 26 November 2025.
Ruth Maguire
Scottish National Party
The Cabinet secretary and I have previously spoken in the chamber about the impact that a negative experience of birth can have on women and their babies. I have shared a letter with him that my constituent submitted to NHS Ayrshire and Arran in May 2025, which gave a detailed account of her negative experience. NHS Ayrshire and Arran will not engage with MSPs once a complaint process has been triggered, which I find to be a defensive approach. On behalf of my constituent, I chased up the matter with NHS Ayrshire and Arran on 5 October, when I was told that a draft response was in progress, and again on 30 October.
At the end of her letter, my constituent said that she wished that her complaint would be
“handled with the seriousness that it deserves, and that corrective actions will be taken to improve patient care”.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that this is far too long to have to wait for answers to help her to process the trauma and distress that she has experienced? Does he also agree that a defensive, bureaucratic response to feedback is wholly unhelpful?
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.
