– in a Public Bill Committee at on 21 March 2013.
Andrew Turner
Conservative, Isle of Wight
11:30,
21 March 2013
As the Committee may be aware, Peter Bone is indisposed today for family reasons, and Dr McCrea has Constituency commitments, so I shall be stepping in for today’s sitting. I understand that the Minister had just finished speaking, but that he may well wish to add to his remarks, after a very brief word from Mr Leslie, who will still has the opportunity to wind up the debate.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
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.
