A service from mySociety A service from mySociety

TheyWorkForYou

Menu

Police Services (Administrative Burden)

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 14 December 2009.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Shailesh Vara Shailesh Vara Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons 2:30, 14 December 2009

I am grateful to the Minister for referring to his earlier answer. He will recall-after he has checked his notes-that in his earlier reply, he referred to a report published by the Home Office on 2 December. That report mentions that the 27,000 portable hand-held computers given to officers are ineffective because they lack the proper programs. Does he agree that it is bad enough that officers have excessive bureaucracy, but worse still that the equipment they have to deal with it does not work?

Minister

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.