Oral Answers to Questions — Unemployment. – in the House of Commons at on 12 March 1924.
Captain Reginald Terrell
, Henley
asked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the Government plans for the relief of unemployment, he can state the steps which are being specially taken to find work for skilled men whose efficiency may otherwise deteriorate; and whether the Government possesses any detailed statistics showing the proportion of these men to the general number of unemployed?
Hon. Esmond Harmsworth
, Isle of Thanet
Before the right hon. Gentleman answers this question, may I ask him what are the Government's plans for unemployment?
Mr Thomas Shaw
, Preston
The most effective way of setting skilled men to work at their own trades is by encouraging the general revival of trade, and the Government are devoting all possible attention to this. As regards relief works, the direct labour employed is in most cases unskilled, but encouragement is given to works which require material manufactured in depressed industries. Statistics showing the number of persons unemployed in each industry are published monthly in the "Labour Gazette," but it is scarcely practicable to distinguish accurately between skilled and unskilled and still less to separate out the skilled men whose efficiency is likely to deteriorate during unemployment.
Mr Thomas Shaw
, Preston
Yes. I am quite aware that it requires capital, and I hope to be able shortly to suggest to the Cabinet measures for taking steps to find the capital.
Mr John Remer
, Macclesfield
Can the right hon. Gentleman give any information to the House, of any kind, of any means by which the Government are attempting to revive industry in this country? [HON. MEMBERS: "Sixty hours a day."]
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.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
