Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Employment – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 February 2000.
Mr Ian Bruce
Conservative, South Dorset
12:00,
17 February 2000
Has the Minister had the chance to review the Government's three years' experience of running the new deal, under which new deal officials are the intermediaries who help people into work? The statistics show that, in the year before the new deal began, the Government were spectacularly successful in getting people back to work. However, since the new deal was introduced, the same success has not been achieved. Is it not the case that people find jobs more readily for themselves than they do through the new deal? Will the Minister take that into account, in order to save taxpayers' money and get more people back to work?
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.
