Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 6 December 1973.
Mr Robert Adley
, Bristol North East
12:00,
6 December 1973
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he proposes to take to encourage the implementation of the recommendations contained in his Department's report "Shoplifting and thefts by shop staff" ; and if he will encourage supermarkets to concentrate on the prevention of shoplifting and the elimination of deterrent accusations by supermarkets against those suspected of shoplifting.
Mr Mark Carlisle
, Runcorn
The report, which has been widely distributed to the retail trade and placed on sale, recommends all retailers to concentrate on the prevention of shoplifting. We have no evidence that supermarkets make deterrent accusations against persons suspected of shoplifting.
Mr Robert Adley
, Bristol North East
I congratulate my hon. and learned Friend on the thoroughness of his report. Is he aware that I could provide him with evidence showing that some people are having a thoroughly miserable time as a result of the activities of people such as those mentioned in the previous Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. Fowler), particularly in relation to certain supermarkets which use store detectives of the type he mentioned? Will the Minister of State please take action now to implement the recommendations of the report, which will have the simultaneous effect of deterring the thief and protecting the innocent?
Mr Mark Carlisle
, Runcorn
I do not know what my hon. Friend means by people having a thoroughly miserable time. Surely the question is whether the accusation made about shoplifting is or is not justified. The working party did not recommend legislation. We have sent out the working party's recommendations to the various interested bodies, and I hope that they will be implemented.
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.
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.
