Welsh Government

The Welsh Government (Welsh: Llywodraeth Cymru) is the executive of the devolved National Assembly for Wales. The government was established in 1999 as the Welsh Assembly Government by the Government of Wales Act 1998, which created a devolved administration for Wales in line with the result of the 1997 referendum on Welsh devolution. 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 for consideration by the assembly and implementing policy that has been approved by it.

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.

Welsh

Welsh may refer to:

Related to Wales

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Government

A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In the Commonwealth of Nations, the word government is also used more narrowly to refer to the collective group of people that exercises executive authority in a state. This usage is analogous to what is called an "administration" in American English. Furthermore, especially in American English, the concepts of the state and the government may be used synonymously to refer to the person or group of people exercising authority over a politically organized territory. Finally, government is also sometimes used in English as a synonym for governance.

In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators, and arbitrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political systems and institutions that make up the organisation of a specific government.

Leanne Wood

Leanne Wood AM (born 13 December 1971) is a Welsh politician and the leader of Plaid Cymru.

Born in the Rhondda, Wales, she has represented the South Wales Central region as a Member of the National Assembly for Wales since 2003. She was elected leader of Plaid Cymru on 15 March 2012.

Wood, a socialist, republican and a proponent for Welsh independence, is the first female leader of Plaid Cymru and the first party leader to be a Welsh learner rather than already fluent in the Welsh language.

Early life

Wood was born in Llwynypia Hospital on 13 December 1971, the daughter of Jeff and Avril Wood. She was brought up and still lives in the nearby village of Penygraig. She was educated at Tonypandy Comprehensive School (now Tonypandy Community College), and the University of Glamorgan (now the University of South Wales).

Career

From 1997 to 2000, Wood worked with the Mid Glamorgan Probation Service as a probation officer. From 1998 to 2000 she was co-Chair of the National Association of Probation Officers. Wood worked as a support worker for Cwm Cynon Women's Aid from 2001 to 2002, where she has been Chair since 2001. Wood lectured in social policy at Cardiff University from 2000, until her election to the National Assembly for Wales in 2003.