Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Overseas Development – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 27 October 1980.
Mr David Steel
Leader of the Liberal Party
12:00,
27 October 1980
If, in the Minister's words we are encouraging generous aid from other donors, should we not begin by setting a better example ourselves? Does not the Minister agree that the aid quotas for Zimbabwe fall far short of the sums that were discussed prior to independence?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
