Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 19 November 2014.
Anne McTaggart
Labour
I thank the Minister for the outstanding work that the Scottish Government has been doing. However, in light of the facts that, for every one organ donor, seven lives can be saved, and that 38 people died last year in Scotland alone while waiting for organs, will the Scottish Government back the introduction of a soft opt-out system for organ donation so as to increase the number of available organs, as the Welsh Government has done, leading the way—with Northern Ireland and England also promoting such a law—to save many more lives than at present?
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.
