Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Naval and Military Pensions and Grants. – in the House of Commons at on 29 May 1924.
Mr George Lansbury
, Poplar Bow and Bromley
asked the Minister of Pensions whether he is aware that Members of this House are continually bringing to the notice of his Department cases of disabled ex-service men and dependants of men who lost their lives in the late War whose claims for pensions have been rejected on the ground that the disability or death was not due or attributable to service in the War, and that in all these cases the final appeal tribunal has also decided against the applicants; and whether, in view of the grave suffering inflicted on such persons by the refusal of his Department to reopen such cases owing to the decision of this House that such appeals must be final, he will inform the House what steps he proposes to take to reopen such cases without further legislation, or, alternatively, tell the House when he will introduce such an Amendment of the Royal Warrant as will enable him to give to every disabled, or partially disabled, man, or the dependants of such men, as were passed fit for service, such pensions and allowances as will enable them to maintain themselves without recourse to the Poor Law?
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.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
