Oral Answers to Questions — National Finance. – in the House of Commons at on 17 September 1931.
Mr Joseph Toole
, Salford South
asked the Chancellor of the exchequer whether he is aware that considerable sums of money are lying in British banks as unclaimed bank balances; and whether, in view of the present financial stringency, he is willing to appoint a small committee to investigate the matter with the view to all unclaimed balances being taken over by the State?
Mr Philip Snowden
, Colne Valley
I am not aware of any evidence that the amount of unclaimed bank balances is considerable, and I do not think that any useful purpose would be served by the appointment of a committee to investigate the matter.
Mr Joseph Toole
, Salford South
Will the right hon. Gentleman give an undertaking or at least find out how much money is unclaimed in this way, and would this not give a real opportunity to the banks to practise the economies that are being practised by other people, instead of economising by giving other people's money to the State in this time of crisis?
Sir John Ferguson
, Twickenham
Is it not a fact that every year all the British banks go into the question of outstanding deposit moneys and endeavour to trace the descendants, which inquiries to my knowledge have gone back in the last few years to 1825?
Mr. MACLEAN:
Is it not the case that a previous Government set up a committee to go into this question, which made a report to the Cabinet on the matter, and cannot the Chancellor of the exchequer continue that inquiry and find out whether anything can be done in this matter?
Mr Philip Snowden
, Colne Valley
I do not think any further inquiry would add to the information which came before that committee in 1919, and they said that from the point of view of the State these unclaimed balances were of no or of little concern.
Mr Joseph Toole
, Salford South
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that when this matter was last before the House the present Prime Minister walked into the Lobby and voted in favour of this being done?
Mr Ernest Brown
, Leith
Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware that this policy used to be known as "Bottomley's Bloomer"?
The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
The chancellor is the most senior figure at the Treasury, even though the prime minister holds an additional title of 'First Lord of the Treasury'. He normally resides at Number 11 Downing Street.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
