Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Unemployment. – in the House of Commons at on 12 March 1924.
Mr James Sexton
, St Helens
asked the Minister of Labour if he has received any complaints from, the Mersey district or elsewhere of the refusal of officials of Employment Exchanges to pay unemployment benefit or to place to their credit any number of days for which the men were unemployed previous to the beginning of the late strike of dock labourers; what instructions, if any, were issued by the Department in connection with unemployment benefit; and if he will undertake to consider and investigate cases of the nature mentioned, where it is alleged that benefit has been refused and idle days not credited for the week preceding the strike?
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.
