Oral Answers to Questions — The Executive Office – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:15 pm on 10 June 2024.
Justin McNulty
Social Democratic and Labour Party
2:15,
10 June 2024
13. Mr McNulty asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister whether they have introduced measures to ensure that the Executive will be working to its maximum capacity during the Westminster election campaign. (AQO 552/22-27)
Emma Little-Pengelly
DUP
The Executive Committee will continue to meet during the pre-election period. The business of Departments will also continue as normal, subject only to any changes that are considered to be necessary to adhere to the pre-election guidance. Decisions on specific activities or items of business are a matter for each Minister.
Justin McNulty
Social Democratic and Labour Party
I thank the Minister for her answer. It was good to see that you were at the Armagh Show on Saturday, deputy First Minister, albeit I did not see you as I was too busy running around after a wee fella in the fairground. What is the deputy First Minister's assessment of the requirement for Ministers to step down whilst campaigning to secure election to other legislatures?
Emma Little-Pengelly
DUP
Guidance has been published and is available online for everybody to take a look at. Of course, the devolved legislatures are not particularly impacted on by the period of purdah, but there are implications for Ministers in relation to announcements and their approach. It is a matter for each Minister, in accordance with that guidance. It is clear, however, that we need to be careful about some of the issues and how we approach them.
In a general election, each constituency chooses an MP to represent it by process of election. The party who wins the most seats in parliament is in power, with its leader becoming Prime Minister and its Ministers/Shadow Ministers making up the new Cabinet. If no party has a majority, this is known as a hung Parliament. The next general election will take place on or before 3rd June 2010.
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.
