– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 15 December 1949.
Sir Norman Hulbert
, Stockport
12:00,
15 December 1949
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many recruits have now been enrolled for Civil Defence in England and Wales up to the last convenient date.
Mr James Ede
, South Shields
I will publish this information as soon as I have received the recruiting returns for which I have asked.
Sir Norman Hulbert
, Stockport
Is the Minister satisfied with the intake up to the present?
Mr James Ede
, South Shields
No, I do not expect ever to be satisfied with the intake for this kind of thing.
Mr Anthony Head
, Carshalton
Does the right hon. Gentleman think that there is any chance of the trend of recruitment being sufficient to satisfy minimum safety requirements?
Mr James Ede
, South Shields
I should hope so. I do not want to see a great rush of recruits until the instructors and those who will be responsible for what might be called noncommissioned posts have been trained.
Mr Ralph Assheton
, City of London
Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied that relations between his Department and the War Office are entirely satisfactory on this important matter?
Mr James Ede
, South Shields
I think that there is no doubt about 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.
