United Kingdom
In the present-day United Kingdom, a secretary of state is a cabinet minister in charge of a government department (though not all departments are headed by a Secretary of State, e.g. HM Treasury is headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer). Secretaries of State are appointed directly by the Prime Minister, and are responsible, along with other Cabinet members, for the collective Government of the UK. There is in theory only one office of Secretary of State, and legislation generally refers only to "the Secretary of State". In practice, there are a number of Secretaries of State, each of whom can exercise some of the functions of the Secretary of State, and are formally titled "Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for ...". These positions can be created without primary legislation.
Read more about this topic: Secretary Of State
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