HC Deb 30 November 1943 vol 395 cc193-4
48. Mr. Molson

asked the Prime Minister in what way the duties of the Minister without Portfolio to assist the Minister of Reconstruction differ from those of an Under-Secretary or Parliamentary Secretary?

Mr. Attlee

As a Minister of Cabinet rank, the Minister without Portfolio will be in a position to give to the Minister of Reconstruction a greater measure of assistance than that which a Parliamentary Secretary can give to a Departmental Minister. There is nothing new in the arrangement whereby one Minister of Cabinet rank assists another. At the present time, for example, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has the assistance of the Minister of State.

Sir L. Lyle

Has not the Minister previously stated in the House that he was the Minister who tried stimulating other Ministers?