Department for Energy Security and Net Zero written question – answered at on 26 March 2024.
Kerry McCarthy
Shadow Minister (Climate Change and Net Zero)
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on steps to improve the efficiency of processing planning applications for large energy projects.
Graham Stuart
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on a number of issues. Planning reform is discussed regularly at Cabinet level and there have been major Government announcements recently on this issue as part of the Autumn Statement and Spring Budget.
Yes2 people think so
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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.
