Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Northern Ireland – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 30 January 1997.
Mr Tony Worthington
, Clydebank and Milngavie
12:00,
30 January 1997
Can the Minister assure an incoming Labour Government that there will be money to run the education system that he has described? It is already known that the education and library boards are heading for a deficit of millions of pounds. There was supposed to be £8 million in the budget for nursery provision. That has disappeared. Some £2 million was to be saved by the change in education and library boards. What has happened to that money? Is it in the budget? What will be the cost of incorporation of the further education colleges, on which the Government have already spent £1 million and have not passed the legislation? In area after area, such as in school transport, there are supposed to be savings. There are some great black holes in the Northern Ireland education budget. Will the Minister open the books and tell us what is happening?
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.
