– in the House of Commons at on 19 June 1941.
Mr George Hall
, Merthyr Tydfil Aberdare
asked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that at Llandrindod Wells £6 6s. per week was recently demanded for part only of a house; and whether, in view of the difficulty of adequately punishing persons letting furnished accommodation at excessive rentals, he will increase the powers of local authorities in this respect?
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
The answer to the first part of the Question is "Yes." I cannot, however, accept the implication contained in the second part, since, as I recently stated, the Majority of the prosecutions of which local authorities have informed me have been successful. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of a circular which I sent to all local authorities last week asking them for a special report for the period 1st October, 1940–30th June, 1941.
Mr George Hall
, Merthyr Tydfil Aberdare
Surely the right hon. Gentleman realises that there is an increase in the number of cases where local benches are refusing to convict in the most flagrant instances? Will he do something to take the power out of their hands and put it into the hands of other courts?
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
I would not accept that statement. There is one particular case, as the hon. Gentleman knows, where the council have asked the magistrates to state a case in respect of their decision.
Mr George Hall
, Merthyr Tydfil Aberdare
But frequently these magistrates or their friends are interested in the case.
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
I asked for this report so that I might inform myself of the position.
Mr Reginald Sorensen
, Leyton West
Would it not be better to take drastic action of a statutory kind in order to prevent this profiteering?
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 term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
