“Welsh Government”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Welsh Government ({{lang-cy|Llywodraeth Cymru}}) is the devolved government of Wales. It was established by the Government of Wales Act 1998, which created a devolved administration for Wales in line with the result of the 1997 referendum on devolution. The Welsh Government formally separated from the Assembly in 2007 following the passage of the Government of Wales Act 2006. The government consists of ministers, who attend cabinet meetings, and deputy ministers who do not, and also of a counsel general. It is led by the first minister, usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly, who selects ministers and deputy ministers with the approval of the assembly. The government is responsible for tabling policy in devolved areas (such as health, education, economic development, transport and local government) for consideration by the assembly and implementing policy that has been approved by it.^[1]^[2]

The current Welsh Government is a Labour led administration, following the 2016 National Assembly for Wales election. Mark Drakeford has been the First Minister of Wales since December 2018.

History

Executive Committee of the National Assembly for Wales 1999 to 2007

As initially established, the Welsh Government had no independent executive powers in law (unlike, for instance, the Scottish ministers and British government ministers). The National 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 delegate to ministers.

The Government of Wales Act 2006 formally separated the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Government, giving Welsh ministers independent executive authority, this taking effect after the May 2007 elections. Following separation, the Welsh ministers exercise functions in their own right. Further transfers of executive functions from the British government can be made directly to the Welsh ministers (with their consent) by an Order in Council approved by the British parliament.

Separation was designed to clarify the respective roles of the assembly and the government. Under the structures established by the Government of Wales Act 2006, the role of Welsh ministers is to make decisions; develop and implement policy; exercise executive functions and make statutory instruments. The 60 assembly members in the National Assembly scrutinise the government's decisions and policies; hold ministers to account; approve budgets for the Welsh Government's programmes; and enact acts of assembly on subjects that have been devolved to the Welsh administration.

The result mirrored much more closely the relationship between the British government and British parliament and that between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament.

After the 2007 election of the National Assembly for Wales

Legal separation

The new arrangements provided for in the Government of Wales Act 2006 created a formal legal separation between the National Assembly for Wales, comprising 60 assembly members, and the Welsh Assembly Government, comprising the First Minister, Welsh ministers, deputy ministers and the counsel general. This separation between the two bodies took effect on the appointment of the First Minister by Queen Elizabeth II following the assembly election on 3 May 2007.

Separation was meant to clarify the respective roles of the assembly and the government. The role of the government is 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 that 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 employs the staff supporting the new National Assembly for Wales, and holds property, enters into contracts and provides support services on its behalf.

Welsh ministers

The 2006 Act made new provision for the appointment of Welsh ministers. The First Minister is nominated by the Assembly and then appointed by Her Majesty the Queen. The First Minister then appoints the Welsh Ministers and the Deputy Welsh Ministers, with the approval of Her Majesty. The Act created a new post of Counsel General for Wales, the principal source of legal advice to the Welsh Government. The Counsel General is appointed by the Queen, on the nomination of the First Minister, whose recommendation must 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.

2011 referendum on law-making powers

Functions and areas of competence

Following the "yes" vote in the referendum on further law-making powers for the assembly on 3 March 2011, the Welsh Government is now entitled to propose bills to the National Assembly for Wales on subjects within 20 fields of policy. Subject to limitations prescribed by the Government of Wales Act 2006, Acts of the National Assembly may make any provision that could be made by Act of Parliament. The 20 areas of responsibility devolved to the National Assembly for Wales (and within which Welsh ministers exercise executive functions) are:

Renaming

The Welsh Assembly Government was renamed Welsh Government ({{lang|cy|Llywodraeth Cymru}}) under the Wales Act 2014.^[3]

Cabinet members and deputy ministers

The government is composed of ministers and deputy ministers. The counsel general is also a member of the Cabinet. The current government is formed by Welsh Labour, the sole Liberal Democrats Assembly Member, Kirsty Williams and Independent AM Dafydd Elis-Thomas.

Civil service

The Welsh Government also includes a civil service that supports the Welsh ministers. As of March 2018, there are 5,015 full-time equivalent civil servants working across Wales.^[5] The civil service is a matter reserved to the British parliament at Westminster: Welsh Government civil servants work within the rules and customs of Her Majesty's Civil Service, but serve the devolved administration rather than the British government.^[6]

Permanent secretary

The permanent secretary heads the civil service of the Welsh Government and chairs the Strategic Delivery and Performance Board.

The permanent secretary is a member of Her Majesty's Civil Service, and therefore takes part in the permanent secretaries management group of the Civil Service^[7] and is answerable to the most senior civil servant in Britain, the cabinet secretary, for his or her professional conduct. He or she remains, however, at the direction of the Welsh ministers.

Directorates

The Board

The Welsh Government 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 four directors general, four directors and 4 non-executive directors, and is chaired by the permanent secretary.

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.^[9]

Welsh Government sponsored bodies

The Welsh Government is responsible for a number of Welsh Government sponsored bodies (WGSBs). These are, respectively,

The Welsh Government is also responsible for some public bodies that are not classed as WGSBs, such as NHS Wales, and the Welsh Offices of England and Wales legal offices.

Offices

The Welsh Government has a total of 22 core offices across Wales. It also has an office based in Westminster in London. The Government also has 15 offices located in 7 countries outside the United Kingdom, including China, India, United Arab Emirates and the United States.^[10]

Historically, 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".^[11] Since 2004, Welsh Government civil servants have been relocated across Wales as part of the Location Strategy, which involved the creation of new offices at Merthyr Tydfil, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction.^[12] 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.

The office of the First Minister is in Tŷ Hywel in Cardiff Bay; 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.

Budget

Wales receives a budget allocation from the UK Government^[13] determined by the Barnett Formula, which makes up roughly 80% of the Welsh budget. The remaining 20% comes from devolved taxes such as Non-domestic rates, Land Transaction Tax, Landfill Disposal Tax and the Welsh rates of Income Tax. These taxes are collected and managed by the Welsh Revenue Authority except for income tax which is collected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and then distributed to the Welsh Government.

The Welsh Government sets out its spending and financing plans for the forthcoming financial year in the autumn.

The National Assembly for Wales scrutinises the budget and associated taxation and spending plans.

List of successive Welsh Governments

See also

References

1. ^{{cite web |url= http://gov.wales/docs/caecd/publications/150917-quick-guide-en.pdf |title= Welsh Government: a quick guide |publisher= Welsh Government |date= 2015 |accessdate= 13 January 2016}}
2. ^{{cite web |url= http://gov.wales/about/cabinet/?lang=en |title= Welsh Government: about |publisher= Welsh Government |date=2016 |accessdate= 22 May 2016}}
3. ^{{cite news |url =https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/18/welsh-assembly-report-damns-cardiff-government-for-failure-to-cut-poverty |title =Welsh assembly report damns Cardiff government for failure to cut poverty |accessdate=15 January 2016 |date=19 June 2015 |publisher =Guardian News & Media | work=The Guardian website }}
4. ^{{cite web|url=https://beta.gov.wales/cabinet-members-and-ministers|title=Cabinet members and ministers|website=gov.wales|access-date=17 December 2018}}
5. ^{{Cite web|url=http://gov.wales/about/civilservice/how-we-work/facts-figures/staff/wgstaffnumbers/?skip=1&lang=en |title= Welsh Government {{!}} Number of staff at the Welsh Government |website= gov.wales |language= EN |access-date=2018-01-27}}
6. ^{{cite web | url=http://gov.wales/about/civilservice/how-we-work/?lang=en | title=Welsh Government civil service: how we work | publisher=Welsh Government | date=11 November 2013 | accessdate=13 January 2016}}
7. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/leadership/psmg/PSMG-members.aspx|title=Civil Service. PSMG Membership|publisher=|access-date=14 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608060547/http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/leadership/psmg/PSMG-members.aspx|archive-date=8 June 2011|dead-url=yes|df=dmy-all}}
8. ^¹{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-37929812|title=Diplomat to be new Welsh Government permanent secretary|date=2016-11-09|newspaper=BBC News|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-02-03}}
9. ^Welsh Government | Membership {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330110421/http://wales.gov.uk/about/civilservice/managementstructure/sdpb/membership/?lang=en |date=30 March 2012 }}. Wales.gov.uk (18 March 2013). Retrieved on 24 August 2013.
10. ^{{Cite web |url= http://gov.wales/about/civilservice/how-we-work/facts-figures/our-buildings/state-of-the-estate-report-2016-17/?lang=en |title= Welsh Government {{!}} State of the estate report 2016-2017 |website= gov.wales |language= EN |access-date= 2018-01-27}}
11. ^{{cite web |url= http://wales.gov.uk/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2005/230305-Updatelocationstrategy?lang=en |title= Welsh Government – Update on Location Strategy |publisher= |access-date= 3 August 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120315165942/http://wales.gov.uk/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2005/230305-Updatelocationstrategy?lang=en |archive-date= 15 March 2012 |dead-url= yes |df= dmy-all }}
12. ^{{cite web|url=http://wales.gov.uk/about/strategy/locstrat/?lang=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403215430/http://wales.gov.uk/about/strategy/locstrat/?lang=en|dead-url=yes|archive-date=2009-04-03|title=Welsh Government – Location Strategy|publisher=}}
13. ^Welsh Government | Budgets. Wales.gov.uk (8 July 2013). Retrieved on 24 August 2013.