Oral Answers to Questions — Housing – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 7 August 1947.
Mr Derek Walker-Smith
, Hertford
12:00,
7 August 1947
asked the Minister of Health what is the total number of houses so far built by private enterprise builders under their own own specifications for sale to local authorities, in accordance with the provisions of his Department's Circular 92/46; and whether he will separately include such totals in the Housing Returns and the figures for individual local authorities in Appendix B thereof.
Mr Aneurin Bevan
, Ebbw Vale
The number is 1,467. I will consider including information on this point in the monthly return.
Mr Derek Walker-Smith
, Hertford
Will that include the individual local authorities in Appendix B, which is very important?
Mr Aneurin Bevan
, Ebbw Vale
I think it would be an unreasonable amount of work to include each local authority. The monthly housing returns are already very bulky indeed. In these days we ought not to ask for more clerical work to be done on these matters.
Mr Derek Walker-Smith
, Hertford
Does not the Minister agree that it is only by including the figures for the individual local authorities in Appendix B that hon. Members will have the opportunity of seeing which, if any, local authorities are not trying to put this scheme into operation?
Mr Aneurin Bevan
, Ebbw Vale
I think it is a pertectly proper point, and I will see how much additional work is involved and weigh that against the advantage of the information.
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.
