Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 8 February 1940.
Mr John Leslie
, Sedgefield
asked the Minister of Labour whether, in view of the decision of the Government to extend the opening hours of shops after Easter, he will now give effect to the findings of the joint committee dealing with conditions in the distributive trades so as to safeguard to some extent the interests of shop assistants?
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.
