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Parliamentary under-secretary of state
Junior minister in the government of the United Kingdom From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The parliamentary under-secretary of state (historically under-secretary of state or just parliamentary secretary, particularly in departments not led by a secretary of state)[1] is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a minister of state, which is itself junior to a secretary of state.[2]
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Background
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The Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 (c. 27) provides that at any one time there can be no more than 83 paid ministers (not counting the Lord Chancellor, up to 3 law officers, and up to 22 whips). Of these, no more than 50 ministers can be paid the salary of a minister senior to a parliamentary secretary. Thus, if 50 senior ministers are appointed, the maximum number of paid parliamentary secretaries is 33.[3][4]
The limit on the number of unpaid parliamentary secretaries is given by the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975, ensuring that no more than 95 government ministers of any kind can sit in the House of Commons at any one time; there is no upper bound to the number of unpaid ministers sitting in the House of Lords.[4][5][6]
The position should not be confused with the permanent secretary, which is the most senior civil servant in a government department (also known as the permanent under-secretary of state), nor with a parliamentary private secretary (an MP serving as an assistant to a minister entitled to directly relevant expenses but no further pay).[2][7]
Of his tenure as an under-secretary in Macmillan's 1957–1963 Conservative government from the Lords, the Duke of Devonshire noted: "No one who hasn't been a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State has any conception of how unimportant a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State is".[8]
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List of parliamentary under-secretaries of state
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Current
There are 44 parliamentary under-secretaries of state, of whom six are unpaid.
The current parliamentary under-secretaries of state are:[9]
- HM Treasury
- Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (see Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs)
- Home Office (see Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department)
- Ministry of Justice
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State[10]
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State[11]
- Ministry of Defence
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
- Department for Business and Trade
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Services, Small Business and Exports (joint with UK Export Finance)
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Legislation[15]
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Department for Education
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Equalities (Race and Ethnicity)[16]
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities (LGBT+)[17]
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Early Education[18]
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water and Flooding[19]
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nature
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lords Minister)[20]
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
- Department for Transport
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Scotland Office
- Wales Office
- Northern Ireland Office
- UK Export Finance
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Services, Small Business and Exports (joint with Department for International Trade)
Historic
- Department for Exiting the European Union
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Ministry of Technology
- Foreign Affairs and War
- Under-Secretary of State for Air at the Air Ministry
- Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs was formed in 1968 by the merging of
- Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, which was the result of the 1966 merger of
- Under-Secretary of State for India at the India Office
- Under-Secretary for Ireland who lived at the Under Secretary's Lodge
- Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, which was the result of the 1801 merger of the
- Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply
- Ministry of Transport
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See also
References
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