Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture. – in the House of Commons am ar 6 Gorffennaf 1925.
Mr George Garro-Jones
, Hackney South
asked the Minister of Labour the total number of permits issued for the immigration of aliens to employment in this country during the present year to date, together with the number of permits renewed or extended during the same period?
Sir Henry Betterton
, Rushcliffe
Between the 1st January and 30th June, 1925, 2,640 permits were issued to employers in this country to enable them to obtain the services of aliens from abroad. The Majority of the permits were for short periods, varying from one week to six months. No record is kept of permits which are extended. I may say, however, that a renewal or extension of permits issued for limited periods is only granted after careful consideration of each case.
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.
