Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Science – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 12 Chwefror 1991.
Mr Rhodri Morgan
, Gorllewin Caerdydd
12:00,
12 Chwefror 1991
I thank the Minister for his reply. Can he explain the basis of the extraordinary decision to cut access funds for our higher education institutions to less than half their present level—from £23 million to £10 million in two years time? Does he accept that access funds have been much touted by his Government as a new and flexible instrument and have been extremely useful to the universities? They have been the eye of the needle, with the would-be British higher education student acting as the camel. Why, having built up the funds, does the Minister intend to take away more than half of them over the next two years?
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.
