Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 18 Mawrth 1964.
Mr Jon Rankin
, Glasgow Govan
12:00,
18 Mawrth 1964
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, in view of the fact that industrial development in the central Scottish belt has always tended to attract people from the Highland areas, what compensating industrial projects he proposes for the Highlands of Scotland to help in stabilising or increasing their population.
Mr Gordon Campbell
, Moray and Nairnshire
The promotion of a healthy economy in the Highlands, and other parts of Britain that are losing population, is a main aim of the Government's regional development policies. How best to apply these policies to the Highlands will be settled in the light of the study in which the Scottish Development Group is now engaged. Meanwhile I would remind the hon. Member of the steps taken to enable the pulp mill project at Fort William to go ahead, with an employment potential of 2,500 jobs, direct and indirect, throughout the Highlands.
Mr Jon Rankin
, Glasgow Govan
Is not the Minister aware that, despite all that he has said, over the whole period of his Government's life the population of the Highlands has declined? Does the hon. Gentleman realise that his Government's policies have been too miserable to arrest that decline? Will he remember that when Glasgow was the great growth point there was a steady inflow of Highland people to the City, and that my Division of Govan still bears witness to that fact? Will the hon. Gentleman note the words of the Principal of St. Andrews University, that the one great industrial project which the Government can now give the Highlands is a university, and will he emphasise that fact to his right hon. Friend?
Mr Gordon Campbell
, Moray and Nairnshire
I think the hon. Gentleman will agree that Central Scotland must have priority as it is the heart of the Scottish economy, but my right hon. Friend is fully aware of the implications of the plan for Central Scotland on other areas, such as the Highlands and the Borders, and that is the reason for the special studies which are taking place for those areas.
The question of a university, which the hon. Gentleman raised, is another one, but I know that Inverness is one of the places which the University Grants Committee is now investigating.
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.
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.
