Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Ministry of Defence – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 June 1964.
Mr Reginald Paget
, Northampton
12:00,
10 June 1964
Is it not unlikely that this was buried by a Secretary of State? Surely the Minister is taking this very casually? Is not it the case that it would be only a question of time before poison gas contained in a canister would escape? Is not that a terrifying situation and is not it inadequate just to be satisfied by saying, "We have not been able to find out who may have buried this"? It is a major scandal which really wants looking into.
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.
