Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 3:21 pm on 10 March 2010.
Tom Brake
Shadow Minister (Olympics and London), Shadow Minister (Home Affairs), Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Home Affairs), Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Olympics and London)
3:21,
10 March 2010
I thank the Minister for his Intervention, and I am happy to concede that. He has probably also travelled on trains in France, which are of a high standard. Yet someone can travel roughly three times the distance on French trains for the price we pay here for 23 miles. Let us not go to Poland; we simply need to look across the water and make some comparisons with the train services in France.
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.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
