Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 5:26 pm on 22 January 2014.
Huw Irranca-Davies
Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
5:26,
22 January 2014
I thank the Minister for a very positive, full and helpful response. He may not be able to answer this question now, but does he think that there is any scope within European legislation or elsewhere to avoid this situation happening in the future? In this situation, a UK-based company that has a subsidiary in Guernsey operates in Spain, and people assume that it is applying the same ethical and moral standards elsewhere. Let us lift the debate above Rothschild for a moment. Any company doing what has been described could, within the European Union, be brought to book in one way or the other. Does the Minister think that there is something there that we should be exploring?
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.
