Part of Adoption and Children Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 9:30 am ar 6 Rhagfyr 2001.
Elfyn Llwyd
Shadow PC Spokesperson (Home Affairs), Shadow Spokesperson (Business, Innovation and Skills), Shadow Spokesperson (Communities and Local Government), Shadow Spokesperson (Culture, Media and Sport), Shadow Spokesperson (Defence)
9:30,
6 Rhagfyr 2001
I raised an issue with the Minister of State, Department of Health, the hon. Member for Redditch (Jacqui Smith), and I am still waiting for a reply, so I shall ask the Parliamentary Secretary about it.
Imagine that adopter A adopts child B and lives with co-habitee C. Adopter A leaves a will in favour of her partner, C, and dies. If C died intestate soon after, would I be right in thinking that the child would not have any inheritance? I am not trying to trip up the Parliamentary Secretary, as that would not be right, and I do not expect a reply now. If I am wrong, I will stand corrected.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
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.
