Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Housing. – in the House of Commons at on 2 May 1923.
Mr George Lansbury
, Poplar Bow and Bromley
asked the Minister of Health whether he has received a communication from the Clerk to the Poplar Guardians, enclosing a letter from a resident in the union, stating that the writer together with his wife and three children are living in one room, that the family consists of a boy aged 10 and two girls aged 12 and 16 years, that in the house there are in all three families, 12 children and 6 adults, that the room occupied by the man, wife, and three children is 9 feet by 12 feet, that one child is sick; is it a fact that this man asked for accommodation in the workhouse in order that his children might be spared the indecency of living and sleeping under such conditions; and what steps does he propose to take to assist boards of guardians in dealing with such cases?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
