Britain: An official handbook > 1977

52
The Paymaster
General’s Office
The Office of
Population
Censuses and
Surveys
The Department
of Prices and
Consumer
Protection
The Department
of the
Procurator
General and
Treasury
Solicitor
BRITAIN 1977: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
cerned with the aid programme as a whole and its detailed composition. The
provision of financial assistance includes both grants and loans (the latter
mostly interest-free since 1965); technical assistance comprises the supply of
British experts and equipment, the training of overseas personnel, and the
support of research and advisory services.
The Paymaster General’s Office acts generally as a banker for government
departments other than the Boards of Inland Revenue and Customs and
Excise, for which separate arrangements exist. Money granted by Parliament
is transferred (in such sums as may be required from day to day) from the
Exchequer account to the account of the Paymaster General at the Bank of
England. Most departmental payments are made by means of payable orders
drawn on the Paymaster General’s Office; their recipients obtain payments
through the commercial banks, whose accounts at the Bank of England are in
turn reimbursed by the Paymaster General s Office. I he department is also
responsible for the regular payment of many public service pensions.
The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, whose director is also the
Registrar General for England and Wales, is concerned with the regulation of
civil marriages, the registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and
Wales, and control of the registration services. Its work also includes the
preparation and publication of reports on vital, medical and demographic
statistics, taking the periodical census of the population, and, through the
Social Survey Division, conducting research into the attitudes and circum¬
stances of individuals through direct contact with members of the general
public on a sample basis, or of particular groups.
The Department of Prices and Consumer Protection is responsible for
general policy and legislation on prices. It also deals with consumer affairs,
and sets policy for consumer credit, fair trading, monopolies, mergers and
restrictive practices, consumer and home safety, and weights and measures,
including metrication, quality assurance and standards. It is responsible for
the Price Commission, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, the Con¬
sumer Protection Advisory Committee, the Metrication Board, the British
Hallmarking Council, the Hearing Aid Council and the Nationalised Industry
Consumer Councils. It is the sponsoring department for the British Standards
Institution and for the National Consumer Council. The Secretary of State
for Prices and Consumer Protection also appoints the Director General of
Fair Trading. The Secretary of State is assisted by a Minister of State and a
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.
The Treasury Solicitor provides a common legal service for a large number of
government departments in England and Wales. The duties of his department
include instructing Parliamentary Counsel on Bills and drafting subordinate
legislation, representing other departments in court, and giving general advice
on the interpretation and application of the law. The department undertakes a
considerable amount of conveyancing connected with the transfer of property,
administers residuary estates (estates undisposed of by will) of certain
deceased persons, and deals with the outstanding property and rights of dis¬
solved companies. The Statutory Publications Office is staffed and controlled
by the Treasury Solicitor, who reports annually on its work to the Statute
Law Committee (a body appointed by the Lord Chancellor from among the
judiciary and legal profession in Great Britain).