Oral Answers to Questions — Prisoners of War – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 4 November 1947.
Mr Thomas Skeffington-Lodge
, Bedford
12:00,
4 November 1947
asked the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the continuing redistribution of prisoners of war personnel between one camp and another, he will now grant to prisoners the facility of travelling more than five miles from their holding base so as to enable them to maintain, where possible, 'the civilian contacts they have already established.
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Seaham
No, Sir; this would not be practicable. The movement of prisoners of war are due to the varying needs of the labour situation and sometimes a prisoner of war has to be moved to a place remote from where he was before. There must be one rule applying to all working prisoners of war and under existing circumstances it would be unreasonable to give facilities for long distance travel to prisoners of war.
Mr Reginald Sorensen
, Leyton West
Is the Minister aware that some of these camps are situated much more than five miles from a fair-sized town, and that therefore prisoners of war in those camps are at a disadvantage compared with those who are adjacent to some city?
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Seaham
I do not know of any such camps. I will look into that.
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.
