– in the Scottish Parliament am ar 11 Ionawr 2024.
Tess White
Ceidwadwyr
Matrix International is one of Brechin’s biggest employers, but most of its employees are awaiting news of their jobs as the manufacturing firm considers its future. Storm Babet was blamed when the factory found itself under 4 feet of water, with extensive machine damage. What has the First Minister’s Government done to protect and preserve those highly skilled jobs in Brechin, and when will the Scottish National Party finally fulfil its promise to support the town in its time of greatest need?
Humza Yousaf
Scottish National Party
I visited Brechin after storm Babet, and we have been able to dispense thousands of pounds in business recovery grants—I can provide Tess White with the exact details of that. We are stepping up to help the people and businesses of Brechin through the funding that we have made available. We were quick not just to visit but to act.
More broadly, the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy and Scottish Enterprise are engaged on the issues relating to Matrix International. I was very disappointed to hear reports of potential job losses at Matrix International. The Scottish Government will provide support through our partnership action for continuing employment—PACE—initiative, whose members have already met company representatives to offer support to the workforce. Neil Gray will remain engaged on the issue, as will Scottish Enterprise. I am happy to write to Tess White with further details of that engagement.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
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.
