Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Northern Ireland – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 January 2001.
Robert McCartney
UKUP, North Down
12:00,
24 January 2001
Will the Minister confirm that, during the negotiations that led to the Belfast agreement, the Government's position was that it was a twin-track process, and that decommissioning would be delivered when a political agreement was delivered? Two and half years on will he confirm that not a single ounce of Semtex or a single bullet has been delivered by Sinn Fein-IRA?
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.
