Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Office – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 31 January 2005.
Michael Fabricant
Shadow Minister (Trade and Industry) (Trade and Economic Affairs)
2:30,
31 January 2005
How can the Minister be so sanguine about the prospect of 24-hour drinking? She prayed in aid the president of the Police Superintendents Association to my hon. Friend Andrew Selous but she will have heard the comments of Sir John Stevens and the comments of police constables on the beat, who say that it is hard enough tackling one person who is drunk, without hordes and hordes of people being drunk. We heard earlier about the problems in large cities. In the city of Lichfield, we have a problem, too.
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.
