Oral Answers to Questions — Public Building and Works – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 February 1964.
Mr Marcus Lipton
, Lambeth Brixton
12:00,
18 February 1964
asked the Minister of Public Building and Works how many additional square feet of office accommodation have been made available to civil servants in the London area during the past year.
Mr Geoffrey Rippon
, Norwich South
The net addition in office accommodation made available in the past year to civil servants in the London area—excluding the Post Office—was about 300,000 sq. ft.
Mr Marcus Lipton
, Lambeth Brixton
How does the right hon. Gentleman square up all these square feet with the Government's alleged policy of reducing the number of civil servants and Government office accommodation in London?
Mr Geoffrey Rippon
, Norwich South
This is something of a jigsaw. The principal additions this year are 110,000 sq. ft. at Eland House for the Department of Technical Co-operation—which I think the hon. Gentleman has seen—and 175,000 sq. ft. for the Board of Trade in Victoria Street. When the Ministry of Defence completes its move into its new accommodation, we shall give up about 185,000 sq. ft. in Queen Anne's Mansions, and elsewhere. The House will also wish to bear in mind that when we do provide new accommodation for staff, whether it be a new building or merely fresh premises, we try to raise the standard of the accommodation.
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.
