Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Office – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 31 January 2005.
Julian Brazier
Shadow Minister (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs)
2:30,
31 January 2005
Surely one of the best ways of saving police resources and public hassle is to prevent irresponsible people from getting licences in the first place. Can the Minister confirm that, under the new legislation, the council considering an application from an individual licensee is no longer allowed to take account of police intelligence on their conduct with regard to selling alcohol? It is not even allowed to take account of convictions in that regard if they have expired.
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.
