Part of Orders of the Day — Finance Bill. – in the House of Commons at on 29 June 1939.
Mr Edward Burgin
, Luton
I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
The Clause requires a contractor to give notice to the Minister when his receipts from armament contract business in an accounting period reach the amount which brings them within the charge. Hon. Members asked earlier whether there were to be returns, or whether forms were to be issued to everybody. This Clause puts the obligation on the contractor to notify the Minister when the £200,000 period has arrived and it puts on the contractor a duty to notify sub-contractors whenever he places armament contracts With them. He has the further duty, on receipt of notice from the Minister, to give particulars of what armament contracts have been carried out by him. The requirements to give information set out in the Clause are considered sufficient to enable the Minister to carry out this function. He has in addition, under Clause 9 of the Ministry of Supply Bill, power to examine all books and to procure information on the cost of those contracts which fall within the range of the wider definition of "articles required for the public service." The provisions in Sub-section (3) of this new Clause are devised to make the administration of this scheme easier both for the Minister and the contractors.
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.
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.
