Oral Answers to Questions — Housing. – in the House of Commons am ar 23 Gorffennaf 1925.
Mr Harry Day
, Southwark Central
asked the Minister of Health whether, seeing that the average contract price of non-parlour houses and parlour houses was respectively £392 and £432 in 1922, and is now £436 and £495, he proposes to take any action to control the price of material or the profit per house so that houses may be erected at a lower cost to the community and let at lower rents?
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN:
As the conditions which existed in 1922 were different from those of the present time, I do not consider that a fair comparison can be drawn between prices ruling then and now. I will send the hon. and gallant-Member a statement showing the average tender prices ruling for the past nine months, from which he will see that there has been little or no variation during that period. I keep a careful watch upon the trend of building prices, and in cases where the tenders appear to me to be unreasonably high I decline to sanction loans. At the moment I do not consider that any further action is warranted.
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.
