Oral Answers to Questions — Public Building and Works – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 February 1964.
Mr John Temple
, City of Chester
12:00,
18 February 1964
asked the Minister of Public Building and Works what progress he has made in the establishment of the National Building Agency.
Mr Geoffrey Rippon
, Norwich South
I have appointed the Agency's board of directors. I am pleased to say that Mr. Thomas V. Prosser, Managing Director of Wm. Thornton & Sons, Ltd., Liverpool, has accepted appointment as Chairman and Managing Director, and Mr. A. W. Cleeve Barr, Chief Architect of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, has accepted appointment as Deputy Chairman and Chief Architect. These appointments are full time.
I have also appointed twelve part-time directors. With permission I will circulate their names in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
In making these appointments I have sought to ensure that the board will broadly reflect the views of those who will be most closely affected by the Agency's work.
Mr John Temple
, City of Chester
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the appointment of Mr. Thomas Prosser, who is extremely well known in the building industry and highly respected, will give very great confidence to the industry? Would my right hon. Friend like to give an assurance to the House that there is no intention of the National Building Agency itself engaging in any form of building, and would he also tell the House whether he has had specal regard to amenity problems in his appointments?
Mr Geoffrey Rippon
, Norwich South
I am indeed glad that Mr. Prosser has agreed to undertake this public work. I am sure that he will enjoy wide confidence. I made it perfectly clear in the white paper which I published at the end of last year that the Agency will not itself build or contract. I certainly hope, however, that it will do a very great deal to ensure more efficient building—not only faster and cheaper building but better building—and I am glad to say that the Director of the Civic Trust is one of the people who have agreed to serve as part-time members of the board.
Mr Charles Pannell
, Leeds West
Even as it is, is the Minister aware that the National Federation of Builders and Plumbers Merchants already thinks, presumably, that the powers given to the Agency are far too great, but that, in contradistinction to that, we on this side of the House think that this is the foundation of something which can be improved by the Government to come and that the National Building Agency should have the power to build in those cases where it is in the national interest to do so?
Mr Geoffrey Rippon
, Norwich South
As it is a Conservative Government which is to come, I am sure that the Agency will grow in strength. It is true, perhaps, that a number of people have been misled by the hon. Member and his hon. Friends into thinking of this as creeping Socialism, but this horse is a much better breed than the lumbering Clause 4 carthorse which the party opposite is endeavouring to bring up to the starting post. I do not think that the Agency should have the powers which the Opposition would like to give it.
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.
A document issued by the Government laying out its policy, or proposed policy, on a topic of current concern.Although a white paper may occasion consultation as to the details of new legislation, it does signify a clear intention on the part of a government to pass new law. This is a contrast with green papers, which are issued less frequently, are more open-ended and may merely propose a strategy to be implemented in the details of other legislation.
More from wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
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