Oral Answers to Questions — Social Services – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 20 Hydref 1969.
Mr Jock Bruce-Gardyne
, South Angus
12:00,
20 Hydref 1969
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the aggregate cost to date of payments of supplementary benefit made to the families of dustmen on strike; and what has been the average payment per family.
Mr Brian O'Malley
, Rotherham
Up to Tuesday, 14th October—the latest date for which figures are available—951 payments totalling nearly £4,800, an average of just over £5, had been made for the dependants of strikers.
Mr Jock Bruce-Gardyne
, South Angus
Is it not adding insult to injury to expect citizens who have been gravely inconvenienced by the strike to have to subsidise its prolongation? In view of the accumulating evidence of the abuse of the supplementary benefits system, is it not time that the whole principle of paying supplementary benefits to the families of men on strike was reviewed?
Mr Brian O'Malley
, Rotherham
I would remind the hon. Gentleman that, even in the days of the old Poor Law, the wives and families of strikers were given assistance. If the hon. Gentleman suggests that the way to deal with strikes of this kind is to get at workers by depriving their wives and families of benefits, I utterly reject that philosophy.
David Winnick
, Croydon South
Is it the intention of the hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends that strikers and their families should starve to death? Is not my hon. Friend sick and tired of constant Tory baiting of people who are not rich?
Mr Brian O'Malley
, Rotherham
My hon. Friend is right, because that is precisely what the hon. Gentleman was suggesting.
Mr Kenneth Lewis
, Rutland and Stamford
Since supplementary benefits are not paid under the P.A.Y.E. code, will the Minister arrange that these benefits are caught up and charged to income tax so that they pay tax on them?
Mr Brian O'Malley
, Rotherham
My hon. Friend the Minister of State, in reply to an earlier Question, has stated that there is a partial regard of income tax refunds which strikers receive. Concerning the making of arrangements for recovery of supplementary benefits, the administrative costs of doing so would be disproportionate to the amount received, particularly because there would no doubt have to be provision for abandoning recovery where hardship might otherwise occur.
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 political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
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.
