Part of the debate – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 7 January 2003.
Mr John Burnett
Liberal Democrat, Torridge and West Devon
4:30,
7 January 2003
I, too, welcome you to the Chair, Mr. O'Hara. I see that your co-Chairman, Miss Begg, is keeping a watching brief, and I am delighted to welcome her. I have had the privilege of serving under your chairmanship on one or two occasions, Mr. O'Hara, but serving under the chairmanship of Miss Begg will be a first for me.
We are happy with the programme motion. I am delighted to sit on a Committee with two Ministers, both of whom I have had contact with in years past. I believe that the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for Coventry, North-East—I suppose I must call him the lead Minister—was a Treasury Whip and a Whip on legal issues, so we have shared the experience of seeing various pieces of legislation through the House. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the hon. Member for North Swindon, was a Minister in the Lord Chancellor's Department in a previous incarnation. In those happy days, I shadowed the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney General, so we have had quite a few dealings with each other. I have been on excellent terms with both Ministers and, although we did not always agree, business was conducted openly and fairly. The same can be said for the Government Whip serving on this Committee. I believe that he has served on three or four Finance Bill Committees.
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.
The Attorney General, assisted by the Solicitor General, is the chief legal adviser to the Government. The Attorney General also has certain public interest functions, for example, in taking action to protect charities.
The Attorney General has overall responsibility for The Treasury Solicitor's Department, superintends the Director of Public Prosecutions as head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland. The Law Officers answer for these Departments in Parliament.
The Attorney General and the Solicitor General also deal with questions of law arising on Government Bills and with issues of legal policy. They are concerned with all major international and domestic litigation involving the Government and questions of European Community and International Law as they may affect Her Majesty's Government.
see also, http://www.lslo.gov.uk/
The Chancellor - also known as "Chancellor of the Exchequer" is responsible as a Minister for the treasury, and for the country's economy. For Example, the Chancellor set taxes and tax rates. The Chancellor is the only MP allowed to drink Alcohol in the House of Commons; s/he is permitted an alcoholic drink while delivering the budget.
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.
