Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Industry – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 December 1973.
Mr Dick Douglas
, Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire
12:00,
10 December 1973
Does the Minister not concede that that is a most unsatisfactory reply? Is he not aware that there is a growing feeling that a large number of concrete production platforms could be developed in areas of high unemployment if the Government took the initiative to bring the oil companies, the designers and the producers together? Will he not do that small thing and bring these three organisations together to see whether we can have these production platforms built in suitable areas in the United Kingdom?
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.
