Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:00 pm on 18 January 2016.
Arlene Foster
DUP
2:00,
18 January 2016
I was pleased to meet, along with the deputy First Minister, the first group of 51 refugees who came to Northern Ireland just before Christmas. Eleven of them were children, some of whom were very young. They were delighted to be in Belfast. I was very proud of our team of officials from right across government for the way in which they had prepared for those good people coming to Belfast. Indeed, we have been commended by the Home Office for the way in which we welcomed those people to Belfast and Northern Ireland. They have full access to the National Health Service and will, if they have any needs, be accommodated. We are making sure that we stay very close to the group that is here and we are looking forward to helping those people to integrate into Northern Ireland society. As I say, we are very proud of the work that has been carried out to date.
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.
