Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Fiji – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 16 June 1964.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
, Kinross and West Perthshire
12:00,
16 June 1964
I have said that I think we must divide this work sensibly. We should not necessarily get the result which the hon. Lady wants by putting one Minister over the heads of others. I am always open to receive any suggestion for improving the machinery, but I just do not think this would work.
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.
