Oral Answers to Questions — Ministry of Defence – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 3 Tachwedd 1965.
Brigadier Terence Clarke
, Portsmouth West
12:00,
3 Tachwedd 1965
asked the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he now has for building a graving dock in Her Majesty's Dockyard, Portsmouth.
Mr Joseph Mallalieu
, Huddersfield East
The need for the graving dock depends on decisions on the future of the carrier force but plans are in hand to meet the need should it arise.
Brigadier Terence Clarke
, Portsmouth West
Will the Minister speed up the building of this graving dock? Many people in this country would rather have a graving dock in Portsmouth than spend £6½ million on the Minister of Technology and his office.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
