Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture, Fisheries and Food – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 21 March 1991.
Andrew Smith
Shadow Spokesperson (Education)
12:00,
21 March 1991
Will the Minister confirm that the Government's advisory committee on BSE was forecasting a monthly incidence of 350 to 400 cases? Does he share my concern that the actual incidence for February was more than 1,500 cases? How does the Minister explain the actual incidence so greatly exceeding the estimate? What does he intend to do about that? In the interests of farmers, consumers and animals, will he now review his decision to close a number of veterinary inspection centres?
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.
