Scotland Office written question – answered at on 10 June 2026.
Brendan O'Hara
Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Cabinet Office), Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Culture, Media and Sport), Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Middle East)
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce the cost of living in Scotland.
Douglas Alexander
The Secretary of State for Scotland
This Government is taking real action to help Scottish families with the cost of living.
We have delivered the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a decade, extended the fuel duty freeze, increased the State Pension and Universal Credit, and are delivering cut price summer activities for families. Some 220,000 of the lowest paid Scottish workers got a direct pay rise thanks to an increase in the National Living Wage. And the energy cap is saving households in Scotland an average of £117 a year, with an additional £150 for the most vulnerable household.
And by continuing to grow the economy we will help more Scots access better-paid, good-quality jobs.
Yes1 person thinks so
No1 person thinks 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.
