Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 19 April 2022.
Kenny MacAskill
Alba, East Lothian
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to Answer of 29 March to Question 146727, how many meetings (a) he or (b) Ministers have attended since April 2019 in which the incarceration of Julian Assange was discussed.
James Cartlidge
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) , Assistant Whip
The Secretary of State for Justice has not attended any meetings since April 2019 in which the incarceration of Julian Assange was discussed, nor have any current Ministry of Justice Ministers.
The previous Minister for Prisons and Probation, the Rt Hon Lucy Frazer QC MP, met departmental officials once to discuss this issue.
Yes2 people think 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.
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.
A barrister appointed to senior rank by the Lord Chancellor. When the monarch is a king the term is King’s Counsel (KC). A QC wears a silk gown and takes precedence over a junior member of the Bar. The title QC always precedes the title of MP, for example Michael Howard QC MP
