Oral Answers to Questions — Public Health – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 25 March 1948.
Mr George House
, St Pancras North
12:00,
25 March 1948
asked the Minister of Health what is the cost to the Government of the scheme carried out by his Ministry at Harvard Hospital, Salisbury, for seeking volunteers for experiments on catching cold.
Mr Aneurin Bevan
, Ebbw Vale
No expense has been incurred in seeking volunteers, but the total cost of the work up to 31st December last was £14, 170.
Mr George House
, St Pancras North
May I ask the Minister if he is aware that this is quite a wrong approach to the treatment of illness and disease and a complete waste of public money; and if he will arrange for his medical advisers, who are behind this scheme to be placed in some comfortable home of rest or detention out of harm's way?
Mr Aneurin Bevan
, Ebbw Vale
I should be happy to receive from my hon. Friend or anyone associated with him technical advice as to how to prevent or cure the common cold. It is extremely unfair to cast doubt on research workers because a certain amount of money is being spent; otherwise, we would never get any research done at all.
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.
