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Ms Shipley: With the leave of the House, I shall make a few more remarks.
The Bill is a serious attempt to ensure the protection of children, and I am greatly heartened by the fact that hon. Members on both sides of the House have accepted it as such. The comments today included serious propositions for areas of difficulty. I am grateful for the support of all colleagues for the Bill's intention.
Several times, the hope was expressed that some of the issues raised would be dealt with in Committee, and it is my firm belief that they should be. Serious points have been made. All hon. Members have carefully thought through the issues and received the backing of various organisations that also recognise the Bill's importance, the necessity for measures to protect children and the fact that there must also be a balance to protect individual rights.
I thank the House. I am pleased that there is so much support for this important Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill accordingly read a Second time, and committed to a Standing Committee, pursuant to Standing Order No. 63 (Committal of Bills).
Order for Second Reading read.
Mr. Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire):
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
I am grateful for the opportunity to share in the good fortune of the hon. Member for Stourbridge (Ms Shipley) in the ballot, albeit in a much more humble position. I present a Bill that the House will recognise to be of a lower priority than that introduced by the hon. Lady, but I hope that, on reflection, Members will none the less find it an important and useful measure that should secure their support.
I should first declare a past interest. Some 10 years ago, when I was deputy director of the British Chambers of Commerce, I was made aware of the difficulties involved in the control of the title "chamber of commerce", which give rise to the Bill.
The Bill follows one that was introduced last year by my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Mr. Trend). During discussions at the time, I was grateful for the support of and the interventions by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche), then the Minister responsible for small businesses. As a result of our exchanges, many potential difficulties have been ironed out of the Bill that we are now discussing.
To put the Bill in context, chambers of commerce have transformed themselves over the past 10 years. Accreditation, approval of chambers and the establishment of a system of quality service have led to the creation of a network of more than 230 approved chambers of commerce. Some 95 per cent. of companies and businesses in Britain now have reasonable access to the services of chambers of commerce, which cover national and international trade, export support services, information services, representation of business and access to training sources. In the latter context, some 16 chambers of commerce have recently merged with training and enterprise councils, adding another important aspect to the work of those organisations which are led by the private sector and work in partnership with the public sector.
The increased integrity and comprehensive character of the chamber of commerce network increases the need to ensure that those who seek the support of a chamber of commerce receive the standard of service that they should expect. The difficulties and the scope for abuse in the system fall into two categories. First, persons without the essential characteristics of a chamber of commerce seek to describe themselves as such. I shall not delay the House by giving too many examples, but, particularly after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, there were a number of opportunities--happily as part of the growth of freedom and capitalist enterprise in those countries--for people to establish themselves as chambers of commerce of a bilateral character, working between the United Kingdom and some former Soviet republics. It was not always the case that people who sought to use such a title were genuinely representative of the business community in the countries concerned.
As hon. Members may know, chambers of commerce around the world often occupy not only a significant position in the business community and as providers of services, but a statutory position. As a result, those who deal with them expect a service that is of a disinterested character. That would not be the case in respect of the bodies to which I referred, which did not have the backing of their local business communities. In one case, a sole trader might have been seeking to gain a preferential trade advantage with companies that were not aware that they were not dealing with a chamber of commerce, as the term applied in their own country.
The second problem arises within the United Kingdom and relates to the geographical description of chambers of commerce. It is important that people dealing with a chamber of commerce understand which business community it represents. Its title should accurately reflect its responsibilities. For example, a chamber of commerce in the west of Wiltshire that represented a small geographical area sought to describe itself as the Wessex chamber of commerce. Another chamber of commerce in West Yorkshire sought to describe itself as the West Yorkshire chamber of commerce, although there were chambers of commerce that had been established for more than a century and a half in other major cities in West Yorkshire. It is important that bodies that describe themselves as chambers of commerce, even though they may properly be chambers of commerce, do not do so on the basis of an inappropriate geographical description.
Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst):
I suspect that I shall pre-empt my hon. Friend by what I am about to say, but, just in case I do not, may I ask him whether he intends to describe--however briefly--the mechanisms and bureaucracy that he thinks will be required to fulfil the purposes of the Bill?
Mr. Lansley:
My right hon. Friend is right; I was proposing to come to that. I shall happily address it now, if it will help him.
The Bill's structure closely matches that of the Companies Act 1985 and the Business Names Act 1985, under which any company or person seeking to carry on a business is able to apply for the use of a name. Therefore, there should be no increase in the compliance cost to a person seeking to register as a chamber of commerce or any other related title. That person will apply in the normal way, in recognition of the essential characteristics of a chamber of commerce, which the Secretary of State will be able to stipulate. The Secretary of State will undertake consultation with a relevant representative body--the British Chambers of Commerce or the Scottish Chambers of Commerce--and determine whether to approve registration.
Like my right hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth), I do not want to create a structure that will increase the compliance cost for bodies that want to describe themselves as chambers of commerce. On the other hand, I am anxious to introduce a measure that secures benefits for the business community and, on balance, is therefore desirable to it.
The business community as a whole has a substantial vested interest in ensuring that businesses beyond those that subscribe to a system of approved chambers of commerce understand that chambers of commerce fulfil a
role and operate services to a standard, and that a chamber of commerce with which they deal has all the essential characteristics--in effect, they see what they get.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst has helped me by allowing me to move on to describe the essence of the Bill. It works on quite a narrow basis. It seeks to support an essentially private sector body, which operates in areas where the Government often require it to participate in partnership. Chambers of commerce, not least in the light of recent mergers with training and enterprise councils and the establishment of business links, are increasingly the leading private sector vehicle for achieving a shared public sector-private sector objective. It is therefore important to recognise that the Bill is designed to give such private sector initiatives support and additional status.
Clause 1 requires the Secretary of State to include chambers of commerce and related titles--I could happily instance what sort of titles I have in mind, although I will not delay the House by doing so--in controlled titles stipulated in the Companies Act 1985 and the Business Names Act 1985. Clause 2 ensures that, before determining whether to approve registration under the Companies Act, the Secretary of State consults the British Chambers of Commerce or the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, with provision to consult other relevant representative bodies, which we shall come to later. Clause 2 also provides that the Secretary of State may publish guidance concerning which factors he will take into account in determining whether a body might appropriately use such a controlled title.
Clause 3 parallels the structure determining the use of any company title, but relates specifically to the Business Names Act. Therefore, under clause 2, the Secretary of State undertakes the consultation process in relation to factors for companies; under clause 3, he does so in relation to business names.
Clause 4 defines the bodies that the Secretary of State should consult. I mentioned the British Chambers of Commerce and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, but there is further provision to allow the Secretary of State to add further relevant representative bodies. The specific example that I have in mind is the Training and Enterprise Councils National Council because, as mergers between chambers of commerce and TECs are increasing, it is important that the nationally representative body should be in a position to exercise a consultation role in relation to the granting of a title to such a body.
Clause 5 relates to commencement, at the discretion of the Secretary of State, and extent. Hon. Members may note that Northern Ireland is not included in the extent of the Bill. That is normal practice for companies legislation; comparable provisions have, in the past, been made and introduced in Northern Ireland by subsequent order, not incorporated into primary legislation. It is intended that, in a like fashion, if Ministers are willing, the Bill will be followed by a statutory instrument.
To sum up, the Bill is not designed to be retrospective; it is not designed to challenge the use of any title by any existing chamber of commerce. It does, however, address itself to where there is scope for improvement--there have been difficulties with the present system--and it
strengthens the administration of the control of titles for companies and for those carrying on a business, and removes scope for abuse.
1.54 pm
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