– in the House of Commons am ar 1 Gorffennaf 1925.
Colonel Herbert Woodcock
, Liverpool Everton
asked the Minister of Labour whether, having regard to the difficulty of obtaining information about the International Labour Organisation and the prohibitive cost of their publications, to which the attention of the House was called by the right hon. Member for the Oswestry Division of Shropshire on the 16th July last, he will arrange for all the periodical and other publications of the International Labour Office to be put in the Library of this House?
Mr Arthur Steel-Maitland
, Birmingham Erdington
I understand that arrangements were made last April for the regular supply to the Library of this House of all the publications of the International Labour Office, and that all publications issued since the 1st January have already been placed in the library.
Colonel Herbert Woodcock
, Liverpool Everton
Is it not the case that, if one wishes to get the whole of the publications of the International Labour Office, one has to subscribe £8 per annum, and would not the procedure suggested give everybody the opportunity of getting the whole of the information?
Mr Arthur Steel-Maitland
, Birmingham Erdington
As I have said, the information is at present placed in the library, and anyone, like the hon. and gallant Member, who is interested, will doubtless be able to see the whole of the documents.
Mr Rhys Davies
, Westhoughton
Has the right hon. Gentleman yet considered the suggestion, in view of the growing importance of the work of the International Labour Office, that copies of the daily records of the International Labour Conference should be placed in the library of the House of Commons?
Mr Arthur Steel-Maitland
, Birmingham Erdington
I will certainly consider that. The point was raised, but I am not quite certain about the answer as yet.
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 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.
This phrase is often used in written answers to indicate that a minister has deposited some relevant information in the House of Commons Library. Typical content includes research reports, letters, and tables of data not published elsewhere.
A list of such depositions can be found at http://deposits.parliament.uk/ along with some of the documents. The Library is not open to the public, but copies of documents can be requested if they are not on that website. For more information, see the House of Commons factsheet: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/P15.pdf
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
