Oral Answers to Questions — Employment – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 16 Mawrth 1964.
Mr Patrick Duffy
, Colne Valley
12:00,
16 Mawrth 1964
asked the Minister of Labour how large a percentage of unemployed workers has used employment exchanges in Great Britain in recent years.
Mr William Whitelaw
, Penrith and The Border
The great Majority of unemployed workers register at employment exchanges and youth employment offices. Large numbers of unemployed persons who are receiving no payment register to make use of the placing service and also to obtain credit of their National Insurance contributions. Registration is, of course, a condition for the receipt of unemployment benefit and also, in most cases, for the receipt of National Assistance.
Mr Patrick Duffy
, Colne Valley
While I am grateful to the Parliamentary Secretary for some answer, can he not nevertheless answer my Question by giving me an approximate percentage?
Mr William Whitelaw
, Penrith and The Border
No. I am afraid it is not possible to give that.
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.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
