Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Wales – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 21 March 2007.
Madeleine Moon
Labour, Bridgend
11:30,
21 March 2007
The development of the St. Athan defence training establishment brings great potential to my Bridgend Constituency. Will my right hon. Friend agree to hold discussions with the First Minister to ensure that an appropriate skills base is developed at Bridgend college, so that such employment opportunities can be grabbed by my constituents? [Interruption.]
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.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
