HC Deb 19 January 1971 vol 809 cc719-21
Q7. Mr. Carter

asked the Prime Minister if he will enumerate his responsibilities as First Lord of the Treasury.

Mr. Maudling

I have been asked to reply.

As the answer is somewhat lengthy, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Carter

Whatever the Answer be, will the right hon. Gentleman ask the Prime Minister to note that certain new Members, believing the Prime Minister to have responsibilities in economic affairs, have tabled Questions to him but that these have been passed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer? If the Prime Minister does have responsibilities in this field, will he ensure that he answers such Questions?

Mr. Maudling

My right hon. Friend's practice in this matter has been the same as has always been followed on Prime Minister's Questions save for the short and disastrous period when the previous Prime Minister was in charge of the economy.

Mr. Thorpe

Arising out of this Question and closely related to Question No. Q6, since the right hon. Gentleman says that the Government have a policy for both prices and incomes, could he tell us, in his opinion, on which of the two they have been the more successful?

Mr. Maudling

The two must always march together.

Mr. Harold Wilson

Reverting to the right hon. Gentleman's previous courteous remark is he aware that, as a result of the conduct of responsibilities by the former First Lord of the Treasury, we handed over to his Government a surplus of £600 million having inherited from our predecessors a deficit of over £800 million, about which the right hon. Gentleman was singularly frivolous at the time? Is not that the reason why—because the present Government do not have to face the speculative runs on sterling which were associated with an £800 million deficit—the right hon. Gentleman and his right hon. Friends can be so complacent about the economy today?

Mr. Maudling

I thought that we might get back to the £800 million, although it is almost antediluvian by now. If it be a question of comparable confidence in sterling, I recall that, only a few months after the previous Prime Minister assumed responsibility for the economy, we had a devaluation.

Following is the information:

  1. 1. The First Lord of the Treasury is one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury and may act as such in the exercise of any of the functions of the Treasury, but does not normally do so. Under Section 2 of the Ministers of the Crown Act, 1964, it is the First Lord of the Treasury who determines the annual salary of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and all holders of the office of Minister of State.
  2. 2. The First Lord of the Treasury exercises certain powers of patronage. He tenders advice to the Sovereign on appointment to the Crown livings in the Church of England. The appointments of trustees (and director) of certain museums and galleries are made by the Board of Treasury on the First Lord's recommendation. These are the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the London Museum, the Imperial War Museum and the National Maritime Museum. Similarly, the First Lord recommends for appointment by the Board of Treasury the chairman and members of the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries.
  3. 3. In addition, the First Lord is an ex-officio trustee of the Duke of Wellington's Parliamentary Estates, an ex-officio trustee of the Hunterian Collection, an ex-officio member of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, an ex-officio Church Commissioner and an ex-officio trustee of the Duke of Grafton's Prisage Fund.