Oral Answers to Questions — Kenya. – in the House of Commons am ar 30 Mehefin 1924.
Mr Walter Baker
, Bristol East
asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will issue a Return, arranged by industries, showing the number of bonus share distributions made by companies registered in Great Britain in each year since 1895?
Mr. ALEXANDER:
Whenever a company limited by shares makes any allotment of its shares, the company must, within one month, file with the Registrar of Companies a Return of the allotments, but a company is not required to indicate what shares have been issued as bonus shares. In these circumstances it is not possible to supply the information asked for. The matter has been noted for consideration when the next revision of the Companies Acts is undertaken.
Sir Patrick Hannon
, Birmingham Moseley
On a point of Order. Is it not a waste of Parliamentary time to put a question of this kind on the Paper when it is impossible for any Minister to give a reply?
Mr John Whitley
, Halifax
We cannot always know that that will be so.
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.
