Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 27 October 2005.
Mark Harper
Conservative, Forest of Dean
10:30,
27 October 2005
When she last discussed curriculum guidance with the examination boards.
Jacqui Smith
Minister of State (Schools and 14-19 Learners), Department for Education and Skills, Minister of State (Education and Skills) (Schools and 14-19 Learners)
Neither my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor I have discussed curriculum guidance with the awarding bodies.
Mark Harper
Conservative, Forest of Dean
Has the Minister read the poem "Nothing's Changed" by Tatamkhulu Africa? It appears on the GCSE English literature syllabus and it advocates the bombing of a restaurant to advance social change. Does she think that teachers who teach the poem should be jailed under the proposed Terrorism Bill?
Jacqui Smith
Minister of State (Schools and 14-19 Learners), Department for Education and Skills, Minister of State (Education and Skills) (Schools and 14-19 Learners)
I know that the increasingly numerous and highly professional English teachers in our schools will use the poem to inculcate in our young people precisely those attitudes to literature and terrorism of which all hon. Members would approve.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
