Oral Answers to Questions — Defence – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 18 Rhagfyr 1973.
Mr Arthur Lewis
, West Ham North
12:00,
18 Rhagfyr 1973
asked the Minister of State for Defence why by 3rd December 1973 the hon. Member for West Ham, North had not received a reply to his letter of 26th October regarding damage being caused by RAF planes; and whether he will expedite this reply and ensure speedier replies to his correspondence in future.
Mr Anthony Kershaw
, Stroud
I wrote to the hon. Member on 3rd December. Correspondence is dealt with as rapidly as the subject matter permits; and in this particular case a detailed investigation was necessary.
Mr Arthur Lewis
, West Ham North
I am grateful to the Minister for writing me a letter after I had tabled a Question on this matter. Will he take it from me that it does not take a month to send a reply? Will he look into the matter again? When things of this sort happen, people are not always available to make notes of times and dates. If there is a responsibility falling on the Minister in this connection, will he look into the matter again?
Mr Anthony Kershaw
, Stroud
I wrote to the hon. Member before he tabled his Question.
Mr Arthur Lewis
, West Ham North
It was dated the same day.
Mr Anthony Kershaw
, Stroud
Yes, but it was before the Question was tabled. The hon. Gentleman's letter raises three rather substantial points. The first relates to sonic booms which, he believes, are knocking down his greenhouse. It is important if one has a greenhouse that it should not be knocked down by a sonic boom. Secondly, he raised the subject of flights from RAF Coltishall. Thirdly, he raised the matter of the fuel crisis. All these matters are important and they needed investigation by three different sections of the Ministry of Defence. I have such respect for the hon. Gentleman that I was determined not to get the matter wrong, so it took a little time. On the question of sonic booms in particular, because of the large number of aircraft in our air space it takes a long time to find out which boom is sonic on a particular day.
Mr Norman Fowler
, Nottingham South
In view of the need to reduce public expenditure, could the hon. Member for West Ham, North (Mr. Arthur Lewis) be persuaded to reduce his output of Questions? Might not this result in speedier answers for us all?
Mr Selwyn Lloyd
, Wirral
Order. That has nothing to do with sonic booms.
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.
