Part of Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:00 pm on 5 February 2002.
Des Browne
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Northern Ireland Office, Parliamentary Secretary (Northern Ireland Office)
12:00,
5 February 2002
I shall endeavour to do so in response to that reasonable question. Where functions do not come into effect until post-devolution, the Bill clearly states that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister have responsibilities for the aspects of the schedule that the hon. Gentleman highlighted. Where the Government intend to put a chief inspector in place before devolution, the Bill establishes the responsibilities of the Secretary of State. When the functions are subsequently devolved by order under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the relevant Minister in the Executive rather than the Secretary of State will be responsible. The order achieves the devolution.
As the chief inspector is expected to be appointed before devolution, for the period leading up to devolution, the schedule details the Secretary of State's responsibilities and the relationship between the chief inspector and the Secretary of State. When matters are devolved, the order will transfer functions to the relevant devolved authority. I hope that that is clear. The function of appointing the chief inspector will be devolved. Although the first chief inspector may be appointed by the Secretary of State, the function of appointing subsequent chief inspectors will be devolved, as will all the other functions spelled out as belonging to the Secretary of State.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
