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Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Wales – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 17 March 2010.

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Photo of Albert Owen Albert Owen Labour, Ynys Môn 11:30, 17 March 2010

Despite the worst global recession for more than half a century, the level of unemployment in my Constituency is 57 per cent. lower than it was in 1992. Does the Minister agree that investment, such as the £635 million at RAF Valley, will provide apprenticeships and new quality jobs in the future, and that that would be under threat if the Conservatives ever came to office?

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John Bakewell
Posted on 18 Mar 2010 1:59 pm (Report this annotation)

Maybe unemployment is down but the real question should be how many people are employed now and how many were employed in 1992?

I think you will find that more people were employed in 1992.

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.

Conservatives

The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.

With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.

constituency

In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent