Oral Answers to Questions — Electricity Supplies – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 July 1947.
Mr Stanley Prescott
, Darwen
12:00,
10 July 1947
asked the Minister of Fuel and Power whether his Department has formulated a scheme for compulsory rationing of domestic electricity consumption.
Mr Hugh Gaitskell
, Leeds South
I would refer the hon. Member to the Prime Minister's statement on 27th March when he told the House that a number of alternative schemes for rationing domestic electricity consumption had been formulated and examined and also to the speech of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Fuel and Power on 2nd April in the course of which details of these schemes and the difficulties in the way of applying them were explained.
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.
