Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:35 pm on 23 March 1993.
Miss Betty Boothroyd
Speaker of the House of Commons
4:35,
23 March 1993
Order. I have got the point, thank you very much. Let me assure the House that, if the text of the answer to a parliamentary question has already been supplied to the press, it should also be available to Members of this House. I hope that those who are on the front bench at the moment will take note of that and see that it is made immediately available. [Interruption.] Order. I have not finished yet. Hon. Members should not get so excited. As hon. Members know, I would deprecate a Minister making an announcement to the media before making it to the House, but I have also to say to the hon. Gentleman that whether a Minister comes to the Dispatch Box or answers a written Question, is entirely a matter for the Minister, and has nothing whatever to do with the Chair.
The first bench on either side of the House of Commons, reserved for ministers and leaders of the principal political parties.
If you've ever seen inside the Commons, you'll notice a large table in the middle - upon this table is a box, known as the dispatch box. When members of the Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet address the house, they speak from the dispatch box. There is a dispatch box for the government and for the opposition. Ministers and Shadow Ministers speak to the house from these boxes.
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.
