Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Northern Ireland – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 March 1993.
Mr William Ross
, East Londonderry
12:00,
18 March 1993
As this country faces a deficit of £35 billion this year and £50 billion next year is it not amazing that we are still spending some £10 million educating students from the Irish Republic without any reciprocal arrangement on that side of the frontier? Is that not a scandalous situation, and will the Minister try to do something about it regardless of the European Community?
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.
