Oral Answers to Questions — British Army – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 29 Gorffennaf 1947.
Mr Gilbert Mitchison
, Kettering
12:00,
29 Gorffennaf 1947
asked the Secretary of State for War what are the duties of the officer i/c Central Moribund Accounts
Mr Frederick Bellenger
, Bassetlaw
The Central Moribund Accounts Office has been set up to maintain and administer the accounts of all non-effective soldiers, that is, soldiers released from the Service, discharged unfit, or who have died.
Mr Gilbert Mitchison
, Kettering
How does the right hon. Gentleman decide when an account is dead?
Mr Frederick Bellenger
, Bassetlaw
When it is extinguished.
Sir John Langford-Holt
, Shrewsbury
Will the right hon. Gentleman tell the House how many persons are employed under the officer-in-charge of this Department?
Mr Frederick Bellenger
, Bassetlaw
I could not do that without notice, but it is not a large number.
Mr John Boyd-Carpenter
, Kingston upon Thames
Can the right hon. Gentleman assure the House that the title of this appointment is not the new title of the Chancellor of the exchequer?
Mr Frederick Bellenger
, Bassetlaw
If hon. Members will look at this matter in a serious way, they will understand that the whole purpose of creating this Department is to relieve the Pay Office of a lot of matter which will disappear in a short space of time. We do not want to clutter up the living tiles with what we consider to be dead or nearly dead matter.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
The chancellor is the most senior figure at the Treasury, even though the prime minister holds an additional title of 'First Lord of the Treasury'. He normally resides at Number 11 Downing Street.
