– in the House of Commons at on 20 March 1929.
Sir William Davison
, Kensington South
asked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been called to the fact that housing schemes for the erection of dwellings to accommodate working-class persons are being held up by reason of the fact that there are two or three persons on the site who decline to accept alternative accommodation on account of their rights to continue their present tenancies under the Rent Restrictions Act; and whether any action will be taken by the Government to deal with cases of the kind?
Mr. CHAMBERLAIN:
My hon. Friend will no doubt recollect that under paragraph (e) of Section 5 (1) of the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1920, as amended by Section 4 of the Act of 1923, the Courts are empowered to grant possession if a house is reasonably required for any purpose which is in the public interest. I know of at least one case in which this power has been used to facilitate the carrying out of a housing scheme. With regard to the suggested Amendment of the Act, I would remind my hon. Friend that it was found necessary to extend the Rent Restrictions Acts in their present form for another year owing to the impossibility of finding time during this Parliament to consider any Amendments.
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.
