Welsh Government facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Welsh Government
Welsh: Llywodraeth Cymru
Overview
Leader	First Minister (Mark Drakeford)
Appointed by	First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed by the Monarch (Elizabeth II)
Main organ	Cabinet
Responsible to	Senedd
Annual budget	£18.4 billion (2019/20)
Headquarters	Crown Buildings Cardiff, Wales

The Welsh Government (Welsh: Llywodraeth Cymru) is the devolved government of Wales. 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 Senedd (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Senedd Cymru), who selects ministers and deputy ministers with the approval of the Senedd. The government is responsible for tabling policy in devolved areas (such as health, education, economic development, transport and local government) for consideration by the Senedd and implementing policy that has been approved by it.

The current Welsh Government is a Labour minority administration, following the 2021 Senedd election. Mark Drakeford has been the first minister of Wales since December 2018.

History

1999 to 2007 (Executive Committee of the National Assembly)

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 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:

• Agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development
• Ancient monuments and historical buildings
• Culture
• Economic development
• Education and training
• Environment
• Fire and rescue services and promotion of fire safety
• Food
• Health and health services
• Highways and transport
• Housing
• Local government
• National Assembly for Wales
• Public administration
• Social welfare
• Sport and recreation
• Tourism
• Town and country planning
• Water and flood defences
• Welsh language

Renaming

The Welsh Assembly Government was renamed Welsh Government (Llywodraeth Cymru) under the Wales Act 2014.

Civil service

The Welsh Government also includes a civil service that supports the Welsh ministers. According to a report from 2014, there are over 5,000 civil servants working across Wales. 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.

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 the Her Majesty's Civil Service, and therefore takes part in the permanent secretaries management group of the Civil Service 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.

• Sir Jon Shortridge KCB (May 1999 to April 2008)
• Dame Gillian Morgan DBE (May 2008 to August 2012)
• Sir Derek Jones KCB (October 2012 to February 2017)
• Shan Elizabeth Morgan CMG (February 2017 to date)

Directorates

• Office of the First Minister & Cabinet Office
  • Office of the First Minister
    • Cabinet Division
    • European Transition Division
    • International Relations Division
    • Cabinet Office
    • Communications Division
    • London office
  • Governance & Performance
    • Corporate Governance & Assurance Division
    • Constitutional Affairs & Inter-Governmental Relations Division
    • Corporate Services Directorate
  • Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO)
  • Finance
  • Welsh Treasury
    • Strategic Budgeting Division
    • Innovative Finance
    • Fiscal Strategy & Analysis Division
    • Tax Policy and Legislation Development
    • Office of the Chief Economist
  • Legal Services
  • Office of the Legislative Counsel
• Economy, Skills & Natural Resources Group
  • Department of the Economy & Infrastructure
    • Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales
    • Transport & ICT Infrastructure Directorate
    • Economic Strategy Directorate
    • Sectors & Business Directorate
      • Trade and Investment Division
    • Tourism, Heritage & Sport Directorate
  • Department of Environment & Rural Affairs
    • Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer
    • Agriculture, Food and Marine Directorate
    • Environment & Sustainable Development Directorate
    • Planning Division
  • Finance and Operations Directorate
  • Skills, Higher Education & Lifelong Learning Group
  • National Procurement Service & Value Wales
• Education and Public Services Group
  • Education Directorate
  • Welsh Language Division
  • Local Government Directorate
  • Communities & Tackling Poverty Directorate
  • Office of the Chief Digital Officer
  • Housing & Regeneration Directorate
  • Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales
  • Healthcare Inspectorate Wales
• Health & Social Services Group
  • Health Policy Directorate
  • Nursing Directorate
  • Social Services & Integration Directorate
  • NHS Delivery, Planning & Performance Directorate
  • NHS Finance Directorate
  • Mental Health, NHS Governance and Corporate Services Directorate
    • Mental Health and Vulnerable Groups Division
    • Substance Misuse Policy Division
    • Statistical Directorate
    • Office of the Chief Social Research Officer
  • Digital, Innovation & Change Directorate
  • Workforce & Organisational Development Directorate
  • CAFCASS Cymru

Strategic Delivery and Performance Board

The Strategic Delivery and 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 two deputy permanent secretaries, the director-general for health and social services/NHS Wales chief executive, four directors and 3 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.

Welsh Government sponsored bodies

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

• executive WGSBs, which are non-departmental public bodies such as the Arts Council of Wales;
• advisory WGSBs, which are non-departmental public bodies such as the Historic Buildings Council for Wales; and
• tribunals such as the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales.

WGSBs are staffed by public servants rather than civil servants.

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.

Images for kids

• 

  Cathays Park 1, Cathays Park, Cardiff – the original home of the Welsh Office

• 

  Cathays Park 2, Cathays Park is the home to many of the Welsh Government's civil servants

• 

  Aberystwyth offices

See also

In Spanish: Gobierno de Gales para niños