Ministers in United Kingdom

Ministers Meaning, as used in the UK Parliament

Ministers are the Members of the Parliament and members of the House of Lords who are in the Government. They are appointed by the Prime Minister and each given a specific area of government policy to oversee. Ministers speak on behalf of the Government from the frontbenches during parliamentary debates and must answer questions put to them by other Members of the Parliament or members of the House of Lords.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries

An Act of 1889 set up a Board of Agriculture consisting of the Lord President of the Council, the Secretaries of State, the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the Secretary of State for Scotland. The board was to promote the general welfare of agriculture and to publish information and statistics relating thereto. It also took over the work of a Privy Council Committee concerned with animal disease, and the functions of the former Land Commissioners in relation to the commutation, copyholds, inclosures, allotments, and land drainage and improvement. Under an Act of 1903 the board took over the administration of fisheries from the Board of Trade, and became the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and in 1919 it became a Ministry.

In 1944, the Minister established a National Agricultural Advisory Service for the purpose of giving free advice and instruction on agricultural matters, and he himself can be advised by several semi-independent boards, such as the Wheat Commission, the Agricultural Wages Board, and the Herring Industry Board. In October 1951, the policies of the Ministries of Food and of Agriculture were placed under the supervision and co-ordination of the Lord President of the Council, but in 1954 the two ministries were incorporated. The Minister is usually a member of the Cabinet, and his salary is £5,000 a year. He is assisted by two joint Parliamentary Secretaries with salaries of £52,500 each. All three, if they sit in the House of Commons, are entitled to draw an additional £750 of their parliamentary salaries.[1]

Minister of Aircraft Production

Created in 1940, the post of Minister was first held by Lord Beaver- brook, followed by Lieut.-Col. Moore-Brabazon (afterwards Lord Brabazon), Col. The Rt. Hon. J. J. Llewellin (afterwards Lord Llewellin), Sir Stafford Cripps, A. E. Brown, and John Wilmot. The office was abolished early in 1946 following the general reorganization of Government which took place at the end of the War. The functions of the Minister were transferred to the Minister of Supply, the merging of the two Ministries having been forecast from the time the Labour Government took office, when they were put under one Minister, John Wilmot.[2]

Air Minister

The office and the Ministry of the Secretary of State for Air was created by the Air Force (Constitution) Act of 1917 to administer the Royal Air Force, the first Secretary being Lord Weir. The Air Navigation Acts, 1920-36, also assigned civil aviation to the Air Ministry, but in 1945 it was taken over by the new Ministry of Civil Aviation. The Secretary of State for Air is President of the Air Council, and is also responsible for the R.A.F. Regiment and the Air Training Corps. Since the establishment of the Ministry of Defence this Minister has been excluded from the Cabinet, the viewpoint of the armed services being represented in the Cabinet by the Defence Minister (q.v.).[3]

Resources

See Also

• Parliament

Notes

1. Wilding, N. and Laundy, P., An Encyclopaedia of Parliament, 4th ed., London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1972
2. Id.
3. Id.

Further Reading

• Ministers in the Encyclopedia of Britain
• Ministers in the Osborn’s Concise Law Dictionary
• Ministers in the Halsbury’s Laws of England
• Ministers in the Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases
• Ministers in the Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law
• Ministers in the New Oxford Companion to Law
• Ministers in the Words and Phrases Legally Defined
• Ministers in the Oxford Dictionary of Law