Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 29 June 2009.
Henry Bellingham
Shadow Minister (Justice)
2:30,
29 June 2009
I am glad to hear that. Is the Minister aware that I represent a number of constituents who were members of the Albert Fisher pension scheme, which unfortunately failed? They all qualify for assistance under the financial assistance scheme and were originally promised that they would receive about 90 per cent. compensation, but they have now discovered that they will receive much less than that. The fine print shows that many will receive less than 60 per cent. Why have my constituents had their hopes raised only to see them dashed in such a cruel way?
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.
