Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 8:35 pm on 2 June 2009.
David Drew
Labour, Stroud
8:35,
2 June 2009
The Minister will have heard my hon. Friend Mr. Allen talk about contact centres, and I should like to pay due regard to those people who organise them. It is the most difficult job for all sorts of reasons: people do not necessarily go there willingly, and they are certainly not there to talk to their former partner in the best of manners. However, the people who run the centres are amazingly important to our whole system, and I hope that the Minister agrees that they are worthy of comment.
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.
