Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:06 pm on 28 June 2005.
Lord Elton
Conservative
3:06,
28 June 2005
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Quirk, drew attention to the importance of reducing illiteracy among prisoners. Is the Minister aware of the increasing body of evidence that backs up the subjectively obvious fact that an increase in literacy in children will eventually reduce the number of prisoners? Will he therefore put as much energy as he can into all methods of increasing literacy among children of all ages?
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.
