Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:45 pm on 10 September 2003.
The Bishop of Oxford
Bishop
2:45,
10 September 2003
My Lords, I suggest to the Minister that there is a public issue here; namely, the mental health of the nation, given the number of people ringing up and getting totally frustrated. This is seriously deleterious to the mental health—not to speak of the spiritual health—of the nation. Best practice is for the caller to be told where he is in the queue and how long he has to wait. It is a simple procedure. I do not know whether BT does that, but it helps to lower the aggression level a little.
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.
