Office of the Deputy Prime Minister – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 8 June 2005.
Andrew Robathan
Shadow Minister (Defence)
11:30,
8 June 2005
What steps his Department is taking to foster a culture of respect.
Phil Woolas
Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
The Office of the Deputy prime minister is responsible for the creating sustainable communities policy—communities that are thriving, well run, active, inclusive and, importantly, safe. We are working hard to develop that culture of respect to which the question refers.
Andrew Robathan
Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Government have placed fostering a culture of respect at the centre of their legislative programme in the Queen's Speech. Does the Minister agree that leadership by example is important? If so, does he think that the Deputy prime minister thumping people in the street and swearing at and insulting people in the Corridors of this House helps in fostering the culture of respect that we all wish to see in this country?
Phil Woolas
Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has just contributed to an increase in respect for Members of Parliament, and his party in particular. I thought it very unfortunate that the young thug attacked my right hon. Friend the Deputy prime minister, who is of course of pensionable age, and I would have thought that such thuggish behaviour would be condemned by the hon. Gentleman. The Government are working hard to foster the culture of respect across our society, and that is necessary because it was decimated in the previous 20 years.
The office of Deputy Prime Minister is one that has only existed occasionally in the history of the United Kingdom. Unlike analogous offices in other nations, the Deputy Prime Minister does not have any of the powers of the Prime Minister in the latter's absence and there is no presumption that the Deputy Prime Minister will succeed the Prime Minister.
The post has existed intermittently and there have been a number of disputed occasions as to whether or not the title has actually been conferred.
More from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deputy_Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom
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.
