Part of Civil Contingencies Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 10 February 2004.
'Where Her Majesty, a Minister of the Crown or other person or any of them performs functions under Part 2 of this Act they shall carry out those functions only in circumstances in which they have reasonable cause to believe that the exercise of those functions are essential in the national interest and nothing in this Act shall be construed as ousting the jurisdiction of any court in determining that or any other matter arising under this Act.'.—[Mr. Heald.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
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.
