Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 24 June 2008.
Anthony Steen
Conservative, Totnes
2:30,
24 June 2008
In light of the Foreign Office's responsibility for dealing with human trafficking under the Government's action plan, does the Minister think it sensible to discuss with his opposite number the possibility of our embassies in both Bucharest and Sofia doing more to raise awareness of the scale of human trafficking in Bulgaria and Romania? Hundreds and thousands of children from poor Roma communities are sold into slavery every year, so should not our embassy be doing more? Could we not lead a crusade in eastern Europe with other embassies to raise the whole profile of the trafficking problem in eastern Europe?
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.
