Oral Answers to Questions — National Health Insurance. – in the House of Commons at on 16 July 1925.
Commander Hon. Joseph Kenworthy
, Kingston upon Hull Central
asked the Minister of Health if he is aware that a number of insurance companies already have adequate pension schemes for their employés, including provision for widows and dependants and that these are already in operation or. a more generous scale than that proposed in the Widows', Orphans', and Old Age Contributory Pensions Bill; and if it is intended to make it possible for these persons to obtain exemption from the provisions of the said Bill?
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN:
The power to grant exception from the provisions of the Contributory Pensions Bill is, in effect, limited to the permanent employés of local or public authorities and statutory companies, and there is no intention of extending this power to the employés of insurance or any other non-statutory companies. Where, however, any of these companies have superannuation schemes providing benefits corresponding to the benefits secured by the Bill, the new Clause after Clause 26 which has been added to the Bill in Committee will facilitate the modification of the schemes so far as they affect persons who will be insured under the Bill.
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.
