Part of Orders of the Day — Civic Restaurants Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 March 1947.
Mr Walter Elliot
, Combined Scottish Universities
12:00,
31 March 1947
We have not heard the arguments in favour of the Amendment. The Joint Under-Secretary said that he had thought this matter over very carefully and had come to the conclusion that the proper Minister was the Minister of Food, but he did not give us the benefit of the reasoning which had led him to that conclusion. That is what we are rather awaiting. It is right that there should be the district council. We are grateful to the Government for having inserted the provision that the district council should, in certain cases, administer this matter, and for that reason we do not propose to divide upon the Amendment. It carries out a reform which we desire. On the other hand it gives us what we are continually finding in the case of this Government and what we protest against. Is it necessary to transfer administration and initiative in these matters from Edinburgh to Whitehall? We do not see why that should be so. If the Joint Under-Secretary of State could give us a few words of explanation on the matter, I am ready to give him an opportunity to do so.
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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.
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