Department for Transport written question – answered at on 21 September 2020.
Olivia Blake
Labour, Sheffield, Hallam
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timescale is for establishing Active Travel England; what powers that inspectorate will have; what the appointment process is for the National Cycling and Walking Commissioner; and what parliamentary oversight there will be of that appointment process.
Chris Heaton-Harris
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Department is committed to making rapid progress in establishing Active Travel England, and also to ensuring that proper consideration is given to these and other important matters. It is essential, for example, that the correct processes are followed in line with Cabinet Office Guidance on the creation of new Arm’s-Length Bodies.
The Government’s Cycling and Walking Plan, published in July, sets out some of the roles and functions that the new body is likely to have. These include holding the budget for, as well as approving and inspecting, cycling and walking schemes; disseminating training and good practice; and reviewing major planning applications to help improve the provision of cycling and walking facilities.
Further details on the role of, and appointment process for, the new National Cycling and Walking Commissioner will be made available in due course.
Yes3 people think so
No23 people think not
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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.
