Oral Answers to Questions — Government Departments. – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1922.
Colonel Sir Arthur Holbrook
, Basingstoke
asked the Minister of Pensions the numbers of the staff engaged in the Pensions Issue Office, distinguishing ex-service men, non-service staff and women staff?
Mr George Tryon
, Brighton
Excluding typists, messengers and cleaners, the total staff of Pension Issue Office is 4,497, of whom 359 are ex-service men, 13 non-service men and 4,125 women. I may add that the number of women occupying substitutable posts in the Ministry as a whole has been reduced to the limit recommended by the Lytton Committee and that the large Majority are employed in Pension Issue Office.
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.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
