Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written question – answered at on 28 January 2010.
Gwyn Prosser
Labour, Dover
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the legal advice he has obtained on the law of the sea and the application of the national minimum wage to seafarers working on foreign-flagged ships operating between two UK ports.
Ivan Lewis
Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
Lord Malloch-Brown, then Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, wrote to the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress on
I am arranging for a copy of this letter to be placed in the library.
Yes1 person thinks so
No1 person thinks not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
This phrase is often used in written answers to indicate that a minister has deposited some relevant information in the House of Commons Library. Typical content includes research reports, letters, and tables of data not published elsewhere.
A list of such depositions can be found at http://deposits.parliament.uk/ along with some of the documents. The Library is not open to the public, but copies of documents can be requested if they are not on that website. For more information, see the House of Commons factsheet: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/P15.pdf
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.
