Part of Road Safety Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 5:00 pm on 20 January 2005.
Christopher Chope
Conservative, Christchurch
5:00,
20 January 2005
Obviously, one of the suspicions when an agency has the power to levy penalties is that it will be motivated to do so in order to fund its own activities—what is otherwise known as a self-financing regulatory authority. I should be grateful if the Minister would give an undertaking that VOSA's operations will not be dependent on funding that it obtains from penalties that it imposes. That might give it an incentive to impose more penalties than is fair or just.
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.
