New Clause 2 - Licensed production overseas

Part of Export Control Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 11:15 am on 18 October 2001.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Nigel Griffiths Nigel Griffiths Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry 11:15, 18 October 2001

Mr. Benton, on behalf of the Committee, may I thank you for your diligent, firm and fair chairmanship of the Committee? I visited Hudson's Whistle Company recently in my other capacity as a Minister for small businesses. That company supplies the bulk of professional referee whistles in the UK and abroad. I did not have to hand you one of their whistles at any stage, but I hope that Hudson's appreciate the publicity that we are giving them for the excellent work they are doing in the midlands for British exports.

I would also like to thank the Clerks, Hansard, the police, my excellent Bill team and especially, my colleagues for their contributions to this short, important Bill. Expeditiously and informatively, we have touched on and considered in detail all aspects of the Bill and those on which there are differing opinions within the Committee and Parliament. I am grateful to Committee members for their co-operation and I look forward to further deliberations on the Bill before it receives parliamentary and Royal Assent.

Clause

A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.

Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.

During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.

When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.

Minister

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.