– in the House of Commons am ar 9 Mawrth 1939.
Mr Henry White
, Birkenhead East
asked the Minister of Labour the average weekly number of payments made by the Unemployment Assistance Board during 1938, and the cost of the administrative services of the Board, together with the cost of services rendered by the Ministry of Labour and other Government Departments for the same period?
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
During the year 1938 the average weekly number of payments of unemployment allowances, including allowances in supplementation of unemployment benefit, was approximately 562,900, and the cost of all the administrative services of the Unemployment Assistance Board amounted to approximately £4,515,000 of which about £2,690,000 was in respect of services rendered by the Ministry of Labour and other Government Departments on behalf of the Board.
Mr Samuel Silverman
, Nelson and Colne
If the right hon. Gentleman can say what is the average number of persons receiving payment weekly, why is it impossible to say how many people receive payment in 12 months?
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
Because an average is struck over the whole 12 months with reference to one particular day in each of the 12 months. The other involves the full number of persons in any day or any week, which is a very difficult calculation.
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.
