Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Local Government – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 October 1969.
Mr Dudley Smith
, Warwick and Leamington
12:00,
14 October 1969
But now that we have six Ministers overseeing the functions of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, does not the Minister think that the time has come to reappraise the whole policy if ever we are to stem the obvious trend towards the abolition of the countryside? Does not the hon. Gentleman feel that the new Department should go into the whole question, with the idea of bringing forward a policy that will 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.
