Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Board of Trade – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 December 1964.
Mr Edward Heath
, Bexley
12:00,
10 December 1964
Following that point of order, may I submit to you very respectfully that we find ourselves in a somewhat difficult situation as a result of your Ruling? May I ask that, in order not to take up further time at Question Time, you might perhaps consider the Ruling you gave a few moments ago and inform the House whether you consider it an authoritative Ruling for the future or not. It would appear to some of us that to instruct a Minister not to reply because a supplementary question appears to be long is a new development in our procedure. We should like it to be given further consideration.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
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.
