Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 November 1991.
David Marshall
, Glasgow Shettleston
12:00,
20 November 1991
Further to the very unsatisfactory replies that the Minister has given not only to me but, earlier, to my hon. Friends the Members for Glasgow, Pollok (Mr. Dunnachie) and for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes), may I ask whether the Government consider the Indonesian occupation of East Timor to be illegal? Regardless of the Indonesian investigation, will the Minister tell us exactly what the Government intend to do to convey to Indonesia the message that the international community simply will not tolerate outrages such as last week's massacre of innocent mourners in East Timor?
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.
