Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:06 pm on 28 June 2005.
Lord Moser
Crossbench
3:06,
28 June 2005
My Lords, I am impressed by the real improvements that the Government have made with literacy and numeracy in the primary sector, but my impression was that there are still signs of evidence that, in the early years of secondary school, children who have improved in primary school sink back from their achievements, and also that the proportion of children leaving secondary school illiterate and innumerate has not improved greatly in recent years. Is the Minister able to respond to that?
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.
