The secretary of state for Wales, also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (King-in-Council), but in other countries the terminology may vary. The term should not be confused with Orders of Council, which are made in the name of the Council without sovereign approval.
The Senedd, officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and Senedd Cymru in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees to certain taxes, and scrutinises the Welsh Government. It is a bilingual institution, with both Welsh and English being the official languages of its business. From its creation in May 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was officially known as the National Assembly for Wales and often simply called the Welsh Assembly.
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system as well as children's services in England.
The Welsh Office was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post which had been created in October 1964. It was disbanded on 1 July 1999 when most of its powers were transferred to the National Assembly for Wales, with some powers transferred to the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales, a department popularly known as the Wales Office.
The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and deputy ministers. It is led by the first minister, usually the leader of the largest party in the Senedd, who selects ministers and deputy ministers with the approval of the Senedd. The government is responsible for tabling policy in devolved areas for consideration by the Senedd and implementing policy that has been approved by it.
The First Minister of Wales, known as First Secretary of Wales from 1999 until 2000, is the leader of the Welsh Government and keeper of the Welsh Seal. The first minister chairs the Welsh Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Welsh Government policy. Additional functions of the first minister include promoting and representing Wales in an official capacity, at home and abroad, and responsibility for constitutional affairs, as they relate to devolution and the Welsh Government.
David Ian Jones is a British politician and former solicitor serving as the Deputy Chairman of the European Research Group since March 2020 and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Clwyd West since 2005. Appointed on 17 July 2016, he was dismissed from his role on 12 June 2017.
Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (UK).
Victoria Kirstyn Williams is a Welsh politician who served as Minister for Education in the Welsh Government from 2016 to 2021. She was a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 1999 to 2021. She previously served as the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from December 2008 to May 2016 and subsequently from June 2017 to November 2017 in an acting capacity.
Carwyn Howell Jones is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2009 to 2018. He served as Counsel General for Wales from 2007 to 2009. Jones served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Bridgend from 1999 to 2021.
Leighton Andrews is an academic and former Welsh Labour politician. He was the National Assembly for Wales member for Rhondda from 2003 until 2016. He was Minister for Children, Education & Lifelong Learning from 2009 to 2011, then Minister for Education and Skills in the Welsh Government until his resignation on 25 June 2013 after an alleged conflict between his own departmental policy and his active campaigning to save a school in his constituency. In September 2014 he returned to the government as Minister for Public Services.
A Welsh Government sponsored body (WGSB) is a non-departmental public body directly funded by the Welsh Government. Under the Government of Wales Act 1998 the bodies were sponsored by the National Assembly for Wales and were known as an Assembly sponsored public body, and this was changed by the Schedule 3 of the Wales Act 2017 which amended the Government of Wales Act 2006.
A Measure of the National Assembly for Wales is primary legislation in Wales that is a category lower than an Act of Parliament. In the case of contemporary Welsh law, the difference with Acts is that the competence to pass Measures is subject to 'LCOs' or Legislative Competence Order, which transfers powers to the Assembly by amending Schedule 5 of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government created on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). It was disbanded on the creation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 14 July 2016.
Mark Drakeford is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2018 to 2024. He previously served in the Welsh Government as Cabinet Secretary for Finance from 2016 to 2018 and Minister for Health and Social Services from 2013 to 2016. Drakeford was first elected as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Cardiff West in 2011 and is considered to be on the soft left of Labour.
Rebecca Mary Evans is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office since 2024. She has served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Gower since 2016, and a Member for Mid and West Wales from 2011 to 2016.
Welsh devolution is the transfer of legislative power for self-governance to Wales by the Government of the United Kingdom.
