Oral Answers to Questions — British Army. – in the House of Commons at on 28 May 1941.
Mr Richard Stokes
, Ipswich
asked the Secretary of State for War how many hutted camps were included in the estimate of £20,000,000; and how many were actually completed or included in the total of £22,730,860 expended?
Mr Richard Law
, Kingston upon Hull South West
The £20,000,000 was not related to any particular number of camps but made provision for some 90,000 Militia, excluding the Militia at searchlight batteries for whom provision was made elsewhere. In addition, it made provision for certain other accommodation. The £22,750,000 referred to in the Comptroller and Auditor-General's Report covered accommodation for 100,000 men at peace scales or 130,000 at war scales, in camps, in extensions to barracks and at searchlight batteries.
Mr Richard Stokes
, Ipswich
Are we to understand from the figures that the total cost of the camps in the original programme was exceeded by only 10 per cent., and, if not, will the Minister say what percentage of the original plan was carried out in the expenditure of the £22,000,000?
Mr Richard Law
, Kingston upon Hull South West
The total cost exceeded the Estimate presented to Parliament by approximately 10 per cent., but that figure of £20,000,000 does not apply to the engineering estimates of the individual camps. I think that is where my hon. Friend is under some misapprehension.
Mr Richard Stokes
, Ipswich
Is it not really rather misleading? Would it not have been better not to compare those two figures at all?
Mr Richard Law
, Kingston upon Hull South West
It was the Comptroller and Auditor-General who did it and not I.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
