Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Ministry of Works – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 30 June 1947.
Sir Patrick Hannon
, Birmingham Moseley
12:00,
30 June 1947
Will the Minister say how far he has been embarrassed in the reconstruction of the Chamber by lack of steel? Has all the steel he requires for the Chamber been supplied?
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
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.
