Oral Answers to Questions — Posts and Telecommunications – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 April 1970.
Mr Roy Roebuck
, Harrow East
12:00,
20 April 1970
asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications whether he will commission a study into the feasibility of the radio transmission of newspapers in the United Kingdom.
Mr John Stonehouse
, Wednesbury
No, Sir; this method of transmission is already in use.
Mr Roy Roebuck
, Harrow East
Has my right hon. Friend studied the system that operates in Japan? Can he give the House an assurance that that system, whereby a person can receive a newspaper in his own house and tear it off an apparatus something like a television set, is under study here?
Mr John Stonehouse
, Wednesbury
I have read Press reports of the system in use in Japan. I doubt whether it would be economically feasible yet awhile, but I know that research is being carried out into it.
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.
