Oral Answers to Questions — Unemployment. – in the House of Commons at on 6 February 1929.
Sir John Power
, Wimbledon
asked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the fact that the fluctuation of the index number of the cost of living was not more than four points during 1928, he is now pre-pared to carry out a fresh inquiry into the cost of living with a view to the index being placed on a more modern basis?
Mr Arthur Steel-Maitland
, Birmingham Erdington
I regret that conditions of employment are not sufficiently normal to warrant the extensive inquiries which would be necessary in order to provide the data required to form a basis for a revised cost of living index number. It is desirable that a revised basis, when determined, should receive general acceptance and serve for a long period of years, and in view of this I think that the revision cannot well be undertaken at the present time.
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.
