Paice was made a minor member of the government in December 1989 as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Baroness Trumpington. A year later he became the PPS for John Gummer, who was then the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1990–1993) and later Secretary of State for the Environment (1993–1994). In July 1994 he was promoted to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Employment and served until the Conservative defeat in the 1997 general election.