Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 15 Gorffennaf 1925.
Mr Neville Chamberlain
, Birmingham, Ladywood
I beg to move, in page 25, to leave out from the word "when" in line 30 to the end of the Clause, and to insert instead thereof the words
but for the provisions of this Section it would have included such additional allowance.
7.0 P.M.
I need not to say more than just a few words about this Amendment. It meets the case of the pre-Act widow, the widow who may be entitled to a pension for herself and allowances for her children, if she has children, who are under the age of 14. It is provided in Sub-section (3) of this Clause that
where the date on which a pension would begin to accrue under this Act is a day in the week other than that prescribed as the day in the week on which the weekly payments on account of pensions of that class are to be made, the pension shall not begin to accrue until such prescribed day.
You might have the case of a widow who has one child under 14, and that child dies before the prescribed day on which the allowance would be payable. In that
case, not only would the allowance in respect of the child be lost, but the widow's allowance also would be lost. The words which I propose to insert here are to protect the widow in that case, and give her the allowance for six months after the death of the child.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
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.
