Oral Answers to Questions — Employment – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 30 October 1947.
Mr John Boyd-Carpenter
, Kingston upon Thames
12:00,
30 October 1947
asked the Minister of Labour the composition and duties of the new branch of his Department concerned with rates of wages.
Mr George Isaacs
, Southwark North
It was recently decided to develop the machinery within the Ministry for the collection and collation of up-to-date information regarding movements in wages, hours and other conditions of employment and to assign these duties to a new branch of the Industrial Relations Department.
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.
