Government Ministries
The UK has around 20 ministries. The Home Office, HM Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are perhaps the most prominent nationally. Internationally, the FCO and the Department for International Development (DFID) are better known. Politically appointed ministers who head ministries are styled secretaries of state and civil service heads. Some UK ministries have existed for over a century and are constitutionally enshrined such that their political heads have special titles. The minister leading the Treasury is the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the minister in charge of justice is the Lord Chancellor. Ministers are either members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords.