Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 20 January 2009.
Bob Neill
Shadow Minister (Communities and Local Government), Deputy Chair, Conservative Party
2:30,
20 January 2009
Perhaps the Minister would like to explain to us how many of those representations relate to the removal of green belt protection from land around Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Bournemouth and south-east Dorset. He referred to the quasi-judicial nature of the Secretary of State's function. Will he bear in mind that the Secretary of State's own statement that
"the proposed changes would result in loss of green belt land" flatly contradicts his own assurance to the House, and the Prime Minister's, that such land would be "robustly" protected? May we have quasi-consistency as well?
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.
