Oral Answers to Questions — Communities – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:30 pm on 16 September 2024.
John Blair
Alliance
2:30,
16 September 2024
T8. Mr Blair asked the Minister for Communities to clarify whether the discussions with Treasury, to which he has referred a number of times, specifically referenced the ability of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to increase investment through borrowing to improve our housing stock. (AQT 518/22-27)
Gordon Lyons
DUP
That is the issue that I was talking about. We need to make sure that the rules are changed with Treasury so that we can see that borrowing against our own stock, not only to improve the properties like the ones that Ms Bunting was talking about but to ensure that we can build more homes. That is exactly what I was referring to.
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.
