Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland. – in the House of Commons at on 4 August 1924.
Mr Thomas Lowth
, Manchester Ardwick
asked the Minister of Labour if he will make provision in the Hours of Industrial Employment Bill whereby the existing agreements between employers and their workpeople shall be exempt from the provisions of the said Bill?
Miss Margaret Bondfield
, Northampton
The Bill has been so drafted that its passage into law will enable the Government to ratify the Washington Hours Convention. Sub-Clause (5) of Clause 2 of the Bill permits the Minister to sanction collective agreements concerning the limit on the working hours, provided that the circumstances render it impracticable to adhere to the rigid eight and 48-hour limits, and that the hours authorised by the agreement do not exceed 48 per week on the average. The suggestion made by my hon. Friend goes considerably further than this, and would, if adopted, possibly preclude ratification. My right hon. Friend is willing to consider any special case, but only on condition that he is not asked to sanction any agreement which would prevent ratification.
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.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
