Accessing variables in controllers and views

[eluser]xtremer360[/eluser]
Trying to figure out if this is the correct way to deal with the cms_template variable and if there's a simpler way I can do this. And if so how do do I properly access the cms_template in other controllers and also in views.

Code:

<?php

if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

class Backend_Controller extends MY_Controller
{
    protected $cms_template = '';
    
public function __construct()
{
  parent::__construct();
  $this->cms_template = $this->config->item('cms_template');
  $this->data['cms_template'] = $this->cms_template;
}
}