Part of Orders of the Day — Local Government (Scotland) Bill. – in the House of Commons at on 26 April 1929.
Mr Joseph Westwood
, Peebles and Southern
May I point out that this discussion would not have arisen but for an interpretation of Clause 17 given by the Secretary of State for Scotland, who, in answer to the hon. Member for Dunfermline Burghs (Mr. W. M. Watson), or to a point which I myself had raised, emphasised the point that district councils would not be committees or sub-committees of the county council. The discussion has arisen out of that interpretation.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
