Justice written question – answered at on 14 March 2013.
Peter Bone
Conservative, Wellingborough
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the press notice issued by the Cabinet Office on 13 March 2013, whether HM Prison Wellingborough has been sold; and if he will make a statement.
Jeremy Wright
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
The former Wellingborough prison site has not been sold.
A clerical error was made in the local press release issued on behalf of the Cabinet Office in relation to two former prison officers' quarters sold near Wellingborough. The word ‘by’ was accidentally removed so it then read ‘sold HMP Wellingborough’. The local media were informed as soon as the error was identified.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
