– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 22 November 1973.
Mr Raymond Carter
, Birmingham, Northfield
12:00,
22 November 1973
asked the Prime Minister if he will appoint to the Central Policy Review body a member with special responsibility for urban renewal.
Mr Edward Heath
, Bexley
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply which I gave to the hon. and learned Member for Leicester, North-West (Mr. Greville Janner) on 8th November.—[Vol. 863, c. 1165–6.]
Mr Raymond Carter
, Birmingham, Northfield
When will the Prime Minister and the Government take seriously the grave problems of our major cities? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that, of every three people who now come to my advice bureau, two come about housing, or related matters? What specific proposals have he and his Government to deal with the quite appalling housing conditions in our major cities?
Mr Edward Heath
, Bexley
These have been explained in the white paper. Birmingham is one of the towns in the six town studies launched by my right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State for the Environment. As I understand it, Birmingham is glad to be treated in this way.
Hon. Nicholas Ridley
, Cirencester and Tewkesbury
Could not the answer to the problem raised by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. Carter) be to encourage the property developers instead of trying to blame them for all our economic problems?
Mr Edward Heath
, Bexley
There are many areas of the country which have greatly benefited from them. There are certain new towns which have developed the technique of using property developers for very rapid development of housing in the new towns, and some of them that I have seen have certainly been comparable in price with what can be obtained outside, and in some cases cheaper.
Mr John Stonehouse
, Wednesbury
If the so-called "think tank" is to have any value, is it not vital that it should be completely objective? What steps is the Prime Minister taking to ensure its independence of thought and action?
Mr Edward Heath
, Bexley
It has complete independence of thought and action. It is part of the Cabinet Secretariat. It is, therefore, under the Estacode, which is the rules for the rest of the Civil Service; but otherwise it is completely free in thought and action.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
A document issued by the Government laying out its policy, or proposed policy, on a topic of current concern.Although a white paper may occasion consultation as to the details of new legislation, it does signify a clear intention on the part of a government to pass new law. This is a contrast with green papers, which are issued less frequently, are more open-ended and may merely propose a strategy to be implemented in the details of other legislation.
More from wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
