Oral Answers to Questions — Government Departments. – in the House of Commons at on 13 March 1929.
Mr William Kelly
, Rochdale
asked the Minister of Labour the number of inspectors in the Trade Board Department, also the number of visits made in 1928?
Sir Henry Betterton
, Rushcliffe
The number of inspectors in the Trade Board Department is 60; in 1928 this staff carried out 14,438 inspections and in addition made 14,047 visits other than inspections.
Mr William Kelly
, Rochdale
In view of the great area which has to be covered and the many industries that have to be visited, is there any prospect of an increase in the number of inspectors?
Sir Henry Betterton
, Rushcliffe
No, Sir. I can hold out no hope of an increased number of inspectors, but the number of inspections have gone up in the last two years from 10 per cent. in 1927 to between 13 and 14 per cent. last year, which is the highest ever yet recorded.
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.
