Welsh Government
| File:Welsh Assembly Government logo.png Logo of the Welsh Government | |
| Government overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1999 |
| Jurisdiction | Wales |
| Headquarters | Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales |
| Employees | 5,100 |
| Annual budget | £15.285 billion (2010/11) |
| Minister responsible | |
| Government executive | |
| Website | www.wales.gov.uk |
The Welsh Government (Welsh: Llywodraeth Cymru), is the executive arm of the devolved government in Wales. It was known as the Welsh Assembly Government (Welsh: Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru), until May 2011.[1]
It was initially set up as an executive body of the National Assembly for Wales, consisting of the First Minister (or First Secretary until 16 February 2000) and his Cabinet from 1999 to 2007. In May 2007, separation between the legislature (National Assembly for Wales) and the executive (Welsh Assembly Government) took effect under the Government of Wales Act 2006. The National Assembly’s functions, including those of making subordinate legislation, in the main, transferred to the Welsh Ministers upon separation and should help to clarify the respective roles of the legislature and the executive. The result mirrors much more closely the relationship between the UK Government and UK Parliament and that between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament.
Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM was nominated as First Minister by the Assembly during a plenary meeting on 25 May 2007 and appointed by HM Queen Elizabeth II later that day. The current First Minister is Rt Hon Carwyn Jones AM, who assumed the office in December 2009.
1999 to 2007 (Executive Body of the National Assembly)
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The Welsh Assembly Government had no independent executive powers in law (unlike, for instance, the Scottish Ministers and Ministers in the UK government). The Assembly was established as a body corporate by the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the executive, as a committee of the Assembly, only had those powers that the Assembly as a whole voted to vest in ministers.
The Government of Wales Act 2006 formally separated the Assembly and the Welsh Assembly Government giving Welsh Ministers independent executive authority, enacted after the May 2007 elections.
Under the arrangements in the 1998 Act, executive functions were conferred on the National Assembly for Wales, and then separately delegated to the First Minister and to other Cabinet Ministers and staff as appropriate. Following separation, the Welsh Ministers exercise functions in their own right. Further transfers of executive functions from the UK Government can be made directly to the Welsh Ministers (with their consent) by an Order in Council approved by Parliament.
Post-National Assembly for Wales Election, 2007
Legal Separation
The new arrangements provided for in the Government of Wales Act 2006 create a formal legal separation between the National Assembly for Wales, the legislature comprising the 60 Assembly members, and the Welsh Government, the executive, comprising the First Minister, Welsh Ministers, Deputy Welsh Ministers and the Counsel General. This separation between legislature and executive took effect on the appointment of the First Minister by Her Majesty the Queen following the Assembly election on 3 May 2007.
Separation should help to clarify the respective roles of the legislature and the executive. The role of the executive is now to make decisions; develop and implement policy; exercise executive functions and make statutory instruments. The 60 Assembly members in the National Assembly scrutinise the Welsh Government’s decisions and policies; hold Ministers to account; approve budgets for the Welsh Government’s programmes; and have the power to enact Assembly Measures on certain matters. Assembly Measures can now go further than the subordinate legislation which the Assembly had the power to make prior to 2007.
Transfer of Functions
The Assembly’s functions, including those of making subordinate legislation, in the main, transferred to the Welsh Ministers upon separation. A third body was also established under the 2006 Act from May 2007, called the National Assembly for Wales Commission. It is responsible for employing the staff supporting the new National Assembly for Wales and for holding property, entering into contracts and providing support services on its behalf.
Welsh Ministers
The 2006 Act makes new provision for the appointment of Welsh Ministers. The First Minister will be nominated by the Assembly and then appointed by Her Majesty the Queen. The First Minister will subsequently appoint the Welsh Ministers and the Deputy Welsh Ministers, with the approval of Her Majesty. The Act creates a new post of Counsel General for Wales, who will be the principal source of legal advice to the Welsh Government. The Counsel General will be appointed by the Queen, on the nomination of the First Minister, whose recommendation will need to be agreed by the National Assembly. The Counsel General may be, but does not have to be, an Assembly Member. The Act permits a maximum of 12 Welsh Ministers, which includes Deputy Welsh Ministers, but excludes the First Minister and the Counsel General. Accordingly, the maximum size of the Welsh Government is 14.
Department of the First Minister & Cabinet
The official office of the First Minister is in Tŷ Hywel and the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, however, an office is also kept at the Welsh Government building in Cathays Park where the majority of Cardiff-based Welsh Government civil servants are located.
Offices
The Welsh Government has a total of 86 offices throughout Wales,[2] and a number overseas.[3] Traditionally, most Welsh Office staff were based in Cardiff, especially in Cathays Park. However, in 2002, the Fullerton Review concluded that "the Assembly could no longer sustain having the majority of its operational functions located in and around Cardiff."[4] Since 2004, Welsh Government civil servants have been relocated across Wales as part of the Location Strategy, which involves the creation of new offices at Merthyr Tydfil, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction.[5] In 2006, the mergers of ELWa, the Wales Tourist Board and the Welsh Development Agency into the Welsh Government brought these agencies' offices into the Welsh Government estate.
Current Welsh Government
The current structure of the ministerial team is formed by the Welsh Labour Party
Cabinet
Deputy Ministers
| Office | Name | Term | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deputy Minister for Children & Social Services | style="background-color: Template:Welsh Labour/meta/color; width: 1px" | | Gwenda Thomas AM | 2011– | Labour |
| Deputy Minister for Skills | style="background-color: Template:Welsh Labour/meta/color; width: 1px" | | Jeff Cuthbert AM | 2011– | Labour |
| Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries & European Programmes | style="background-color: Template:Welsh Labour/meta/color; width: 1px" | | Alun Davies AM | 2011– | Labour |
Welsh Government Home Civil Service
Permanent Secretary
The Permanent Secretary heads up the Civil Service of the Welsh Government and chairs the Strategic Delivery and Perormance Board.
The Permanent Secretary is a member of the Home Civil Service, and therefore takes part in the Permanent Secretaries Management Group of the UK Civil Service[6] and is answerable to the most senior civil servant in the UK, the Cabinet Secretary, for her professional conduct. She remains, however, at the direction of the Welsh Ministers.
- Sir Jon Shortridge KCB (May 1999 to April 2008)
- Dame Gillian Morgan DBE (from May 2008)
Directorates
- Department of Education & Skils
- Department of Health and Social Services
- People, Places and Corporate Services Directorate General
- Sustainable Futures Directorate General
- Department of Local Government & Communities
- Department of Business, Enterprise, Technology & Science
- Strategic Planning, Finance and Performance Directorate General
Strategic Delivery & Performance Board
The Strategic Delivery & Performance Board translates the strategic direction set by the Welsh Cabinet and its Committees into work that is joined up across Welsh Government departments and makes the best use of its resources. The Board is made up of 7 Directors General and 2 Non-executive Directors, and is chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Dame Gill Morgan.
Strategic Delivery and Performance Board members are appointed at the discretion of and by the Permanent Secretary. Membership is not wholly dependent on functional responsibilities; it is designed to provide balanced advice and support to the Permanent Secretary, and collective leadership to the organisation as a whole. [7]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Permanent Secretary | Dame Gillian Morgan DBE |
| Director General, Strategic Planning, Finance & Performance | Michael Hearty |
| Director General, Education & Skills | Dr. Emyr Roberts |
| Director General, Business, Enterprise, Technology & Science | James Price (Acting) |
| Director-General, Health and Social Services and Chief Executive of NHS Wales | David Sissling |
| Director-General, Local Government & Communities | Dr. June Milligan |
| Director-General, Sustainable Futures | Clive Bates |
| Director-General, People, Places and Corporate Services | Bernard Galton |
| Non-Executive Director | Elan Closs Stephens |
| Non-Executive Director | James Turner |
See also
References
- ^ BBC News, Wales, 13 May 2011
- ^ Management Board Meeting, 29th February 2008
- ^ Welsh Assembly Government | All offices
- ^ Welsh Government | Update on Location Strategy
- ^ Welsh Government | Location Strategy
- ^ [1] Civil Service. PSMG Membership.
- ^ http://wales.gov.uk/about/civilservice/managementstructure/sdpb/membership/?lang=en
External links
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