Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:15 pm on 23 November 2022.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
3:15,
23 November 2022
My Lords, I assure my noble friend that it remains a priority. Indeed, very recently after the appointment of the new Government my Right Honourable Friend the Foreign Secretary, the new Minister for Development, Andrew Mitchell, and I met civil society organisations directly to ensure that each of their priorities was fully understood, both in terms of the work we are doing in defending human rights around the world and equally in terms of understanding their development priorities.
When speaking in the House of Commons, an MP will refer to another MP of the same party who is a member of the Privy Council as "my Right Honourable Friend"
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.
