Oral Answers to Questions — Ministry of Defence – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 19 Chwefror 1964.
Mr Patrick Wall
, Haltemprice
12:00,
19 Chwefror 1964
asked the Minister of Defence what consideration has been given to putting some British overseas combined headquarters afloat.
Mr Peter Thorneycroft
, Sir Fynwy
If the hon. Member is referring to the Unified Headquarters in Aden and Singapore, I do not think that there can be any question of establishments of this size and complexity operating afloat.
Mr Patrick Wall
, Haltemprice
Would my right hon. Friend not agree that it would be wise to con sider the American development of a headquarters ship? Might that not well be used to house the operational and communications side of a joint headquarters, such as in the Middle East?
Mr Peter Thorneycroft
, Sir Fynwy
I am certainly prepared to consider the matter of headquarters ships, but the headquarters at Aden and Singapore, which I am discussing here, are on a rather larger and more complex scale.
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.
