Labour MP Marlene Farrugia has been assigned ministerial aide duties within the Health Ministry led by her partner Godfrey Farrugia.

She will assist Health Minister Dr Farrugia in any issues he may choose to delegate, a spokesman at the Prime Minister’s office said.

The role is voluntary and therefore unpaid.

The Żurrieq-born dentist confirmed her new position yesterday afternoon, after journalists asked why she had been seated alongside the minister during a morning meeting with General Workers’ Union officials.

“If the minister chooses to send me to meetings on his behalf, I will do so. If he tasks me with other ministry work, I will carry it out. Given that I have been assigned this role by the Prime Minister, I will do whatever I am asked to do by the minister,” she said.

The Health Ministry, she argued, was one the largest ministries to run, with the biggest ministerial budget and most employees on its payroll – meaning it was to be expected that ministers would be helped.

Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said his partner and fellow MP was “one of many people helping out with ministerial work”. He emphasised the role’s voluntary nature and insisted she brought a sense of civic responsibility which was “intrinsic to all her work”.

The ministerial code of ethics makes no reference to the employment – paid or otherwise – of family members by ministers. It does state that ministers are “duty-bound to avoid any conflict, real or potential” between their private interests and public duties.

The couple also spoke about the decision-making process leading up to Godfrey Farrugia’s appointment as minister.

A few weeks ago on Xarabank, Marlene Farrugia had appeared to suggest that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had asked them to agree between themselves as to who should become health minister.

Both Farrugias refuted that suggestion yesterday, insisting they had been promised nothing and simply been consulted and asked for their input by their boss.

“The final decision is always his. The Prime Minister spoke to us well before the general election, and he made it clear that, if we were to win the election, he wouldn’t want both of us in Cabinet,” Marlene Farrugia said.

“I immediately told him that, if it was a health minister he needed, Godfrey was the right man for the job and that he could better serve than I could.”

A spokesman for the Prime Minister confirmed that, once they announced their candidatures, Dr Muscat had told them “that, if at all, only one of them would be a member of Cabinet”.

It was the second time the two Farrugias faced the press yesterday, after journalists were brusquely asked to leave a morning meeting between the Health Minister and GWU officials before the minister spoke.

Godfrey Farrugia subsequently called the afternoon meeting to apologise for the misunderstanding, saying he had no intention of offending press members.

Journalists, he said, had been invited to the first part of the meeting on the GWU’s request. Once their officials had made their introductory remarks, he had asked the press to leave.

“I apologise if anyone misunderstood my intentions but I was only doing what I felt was right,” the minister said.