Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:52 pm on 12 January 2016.
Lord Anderson of Swansea
Labour
2:52,
12 January 2016
My Lords, the Government’s initiative on convening and hosting the pledging conference is most welcome but first there has to be a settlement. Reverting to the Question posed by my noble friend Lord Soley, does the Minister agree that the Russian Intervention has bolstered the position and strength of President Assad and can only complicate the search for a settlement? Does Russia recognise the effect of its intervention?
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.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
