Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Board of Trade – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 December 1964.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
, Kinross and West Perthshire
12:00,
10 December 1964
Can the right hon. Gentleman assure the House that he is in consultation with the Prime Minister and that the Prime Minister and the Government are in consultation with our allies on how best we might help Europeans in the Congo should the occasion arise again? That might easily happen.
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.