§ MR. PIRIE (Aberdeen, N)To ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he can specify the official duties of the Lord President of the Council.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The Lord President is responsible for the whole business of the Privy Council Office which, besides affairs connected with the holding of Councils, the issue of Proclamations and Orders in Council, and a variety of other matters, includes questions arising out of the administration and Amendment of the Medical Acts, the Pharmacy Acts, the Midwives Act, and other Acts of Parliament, the grant of Charters and consideration of Schemes under the Municipal Corporations Acts, the grant of all Royal Charters and the approval of by-laws made thereunder, and the review of University Statutes under the Oxford and Cambridge Act, the Scottish Universities Act, and the Charters to modern Universities. The Lord President has also to deal with a number of questions touching the legislation of the Channel Islands and the appointment of sheriffs, and it is his duty to preside at all hearings before the Privy Council whether in connection with its ordinary functions or under Special Statutes such as The London Government Act, 1899, whereby the Privy Council was charged with the supervision of the Commissioners and the final settlement of some 200 Orders and Schemes intimately affecting the local life and administration of London. On certain occasions he has important duties of a ceremonial 844 character in connection with State functions.