– in the Scottish Parliament am 2:00 pm ar 5 Rhagfyr 2024.
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Llafur
2:00,
5 Rhagfyr 2024
On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. Yesterday, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government said that the budget gave universities a 3.5 per cent uplift. Last night, Universities Scotland said that that was not the case. It said specifically that
“The overall resource budget for universities is not rising by 3.5%”
and that, instead, its budget allocation
“represents a 0.7% real terms cut in HE resource”.
After a decade of public funding decisions that have left the sector in a precarious state, that is an extremely difficult position for it to be in. Universities are integral to Scotland’s future, and it is crucial that they—and we in the chamber—can understand exactly what funding the Government is allocating to them.
On that basis, Deputy Presiding Officer, what mechanism is open to members to invite the Government to clarify the position that it set out on universities in the budget yesterday?
Annabelle Ewing
Scottish National Party
I thank Ms Duncan-Glancy for her contribution; it is not a point of order. The chair is not responsible, broadly speaking, for the content of members’ contributions. The member will be aware of the numerous ways in which she can pursue the issue further with Scottish Government ministers.
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.
