Oral Answers to Questions — Royal Air Force. – in the House of Commons at on 1 October 1941.
Mr George Garro-Jones
, Aberdeen North
asked the Secretary of State for Air how administrative responsibilities, or duties, are divided between the two Under-Secretaries for Air?
Sir Archibald Sinclair
, Caithness and Sutherland
The broad Division of responsibility between the two Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for Air in matters requiring Ministerial guidance is briefly as follows:—
My right hon. and gallant Friend the Member for the Isle of Thanet (Captain Balfour) assists in matters of policy arising in connection with Royal Air Force Training both at home and overseas, the Air Training Corps, and personnel administration generally. He continues to have a special responsibility to me for civil aviation policy and for the investigation and prevention of accidents. My Noble Friend who represents the Air Ministry in Another place assists in matters of policy affecting works programmes, such as the selection and acquisition of sites and the availability of labour and material. He also has a special responsibility to me for welfare, education and public relations, and for questions in connection with the Meteorological Office and the Royal Observer Corps.
Mr Oliver Locker-Lampson
, Birmingham Handsworth
Have not both been found very useful?
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.
During a debate members of the House of Commons traditionally refer to the House of Lords as 'another place' or 'the other place'.
Peers return the gesture when they speak of the Commons in the same way.
This arcane form of address is something the Labour Government has been reviewing as part of its programme to modernise the Houses of Parliament.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
