Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Finance – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:45 pm on 16 September 2024.
Caoimhe Archibald
Sinn Féin
2:45,
16 September 2024
The Member will be aware from his role in the Finance Committee that we do regular engagement through the Fiscal Council with the Scottish and Welsh Finance Ministers. Just last week, I had a conversation with the Scottish Finance Minister around the financial challenges facing us collectively at the minute. We have collaborated in the past and, I am sure, will collaborate again and have joint positions and jointly make the case on the replacement of EU funds and the post-2025 funding. It is really important that, where we can have a shared position — often we come from a similar perspective — we make those joint representations.
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.
