Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Defence – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 18 Rhagfyr 1973.
Sir John Morris
, Aberafan
12:00,
18 Rhagfyr 1973
As the Minister, on his own confession, has little idea where the £178 million cut in defence expenditure is to be made, and as it is as a figure no more than one plucked from the air to placate the Treasury, will he reconsider the galloping expenditure on research and development which in 1970 was £222 million and which in the current year is £418 million, an increase of over £100 million in the same figure terms over two years? Will he try to deploy some of that research and development capability in tackling the needs of fuel supply?
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.
