Part of Extradition Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 3:45 pm on 16 January 2003.
Mr Nick Hawkins
Conservative, Surrey Heath
3:45,
16 January 2003
I was not going to detain the Committee by calling a stand part debate, but since the hon. Member for Torridge and West Devon has raised a different point I shall ask a question. I am curious as to why the two subsections (2)(b) and (4) are printed in italics. Perhaps it is a peculiarity of the printing. Can the Minister shed any light on that?
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.
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.
