– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 23 March 1964.
Mr Reginald Prentice
, East Ham North
12:00,
23 March 1964
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the latest position reached at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva.
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer which I gave to the right hon. Member for Derby, South (Mr. P. Noel-Baker) on 16th March. The Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Conference, in continuing its discussions on general and complete disarmament, is concentrating on the reduction of nuclear delivery vehicles, and on immediate confidence-building measures. I hope that, with good will and effort on all sides, the conference will now make further progress.
Mr Reginald Prentice
, East Ham North
Is it not a fact that since the conference resumed it has tended to take the form of a series of rather disconnected speeches all covering a wide range? How far are the issues discussed narrowing down to the point which the Foreign Secretary mentioned, and are these being discussed in more detail? Does he not think that that is the way forward for the conference at this stage rather than various nations having their representatives make long speeches not necessarily connected with each other?
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
I ventured to make this one of my suggestions when I visited the conference a few weeks ago. My hon. Friend the Minister of State will be visiting Geneva later this week.
Mr Philip Noel-Baker
, Derby South
Will the Foreign Secretary circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the statement which he made in the Committee of Eighteen on 25th February endorsing President Johnson's proposals for a nuclear vehicle freeze?
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
It would be rather long to circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT, but I will make it available in the Library.
Mr Philip Noel-Baker
, Derby South
The sentences in which the right hon. Gentleman endorsed those words were quite short but very important and it would be of great value to have them in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
I think that it would be better to put them in the Library. I do not claim the great honour of having them in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
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.
