Part of Orders of the Day — Civic Restaurants Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 March 1947.
Mr Thomas Fraser
, Hamilton
12:00,
31 March 1947
The local authorities are in almost daily consultation with the Minister of Transport and not with the Secretary of State. As regards building licences the Minister of Works is responsible, and not the Secretary of State for Scotland. In discussing with a Government Department matters concerning gas undertakings, the local authorities do not go to Saint Andrews House to have a chat with the Secretary of State. They discuss the matter with the Minister of Fuel and Power. There are lots of precedents for the local authorities in Scotland having to consult with a Minister other than the Secretary of State for Scotland. If my right hon. Friend the Minister of Food is to be made responsible for feeding the people of this country, and is to be made responsible for the distribution of food, and is to be answerable to this House for the successful operations of the Civic Restaurants Bill, I suggest that he is the Minister and the only Minister who can be asked, on application by a district council, for powers under the Bill, and he is the only Minister who can determine on the facts available to him whether or not a county council are making a reasonable exercise of their functions.
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.
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.
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.
