Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Commerce – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 27 November 1956.
Mr Albert Oram
, East Ham South
12:00,
27 November 1956
asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in the 1958 Census of Distribution, information will be obtained about the development of self-service trading.
Mr Frederick Erroll
, Altrincham and Sale
No, Sir. My right hon. Friend, after consulting his Advisory Committee, thinks that the questions to be asked in the Census should, for reasons of economy and to save traders time and trouble, be limited to the essential minimum,
Mr Albert Oram
, East Ham South
Does not the Minister appreciate that the self-service shop is one of the most encouraging developments in recent years from the point of view of reducing the cost of living? Ought it not, therefore, to be very desirable to get as much information about them as possible and disseminate it amongst those engaged in distribution?
Mr Frederick Erroll
, Altrincham and Sale
I have a good deal of sympathy with that point of view, but the fact is that the census is only a sample survey covering about 1 in 10 of the smaller independent traders. It might therefore give a very distorted impression if we examined self-service trading which is largely in the hands of the larger traders.
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.
