Oral Answers to Questions — Posts and Telecommunications – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 April 1970.
Mr Joel Barnett
, Heywood and Royton
12:00,
20 April 1970
asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications if he will make a statement on television reception in Lancashire.
Mr Norman Pentland
, Chester-le-Street
The reception of their services is primarily the responsibility of the B.B.C. and I.T.A. They tell me that their V.H.F. services are generally well received in Lancashire and that the colour transmissions on U.H.F. of B.B.C. 2 and the duplicated versions of B.B.C. 1 and I.T.V. are already available to more than 90 per cent. of the population of the county.
Mr Joel Barnett
, Heywood and Royton
It appears that my hon. Friend must be misinformed—or the 10 per cent. are all in my Constituency. Would he care to look into this matter again and possibly consult his right hon. Friends the Attorney-General and the President of the Board of Trade in order to see whether he has committed an offence under the Trade Descriptions Act by selling television licences to people who cannot obtain the service for which they are paying?
Mr Norman Pentland
, Chester-le-Street
That is an entirely different question. I am aware of the Constituency complaint that my hon. Friend has raised with the Ministry. His constituency happens to be outside a relay station area, but we are doing all we can to improve the position.
Mr John Tilney
, Liverpool Wavertree
is not the hon. Member aware that tens of thousands of people on Merseyside are unable to receive B.B.C. 1 in colour?
Mr Norman Pentland
, Chester-le-Street
I recently replied to a question that the hon. Member raised with me concerning the Merseyside area.
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.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
