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Children's Rights Commissioner
Mr. Hilton Dawson accordingly presented a Bill to provide for the establishment of a children's rights commissioner to promote the rights and interests of children in England; to make provision for the powers and duties of the commissioner; and for related purposes: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time on Friday 23 July, and to be printed[Bill 139].
Orders of the Day
Pollution Prevention and Control Bill [Lords]
As amended in the Standing Committee, considered.
'.--(1) Where--
(a) a disposal licence under section 5 of the 1974 Act became a site licence by virtue of section 77(2) of the 1990 Act (conversion, on the appointed day, of existing disposal licence under section 5 of the 1974 Act into a site licence),
(b) the licence has expired at a time ("the time of expiry") falling before the day on which this Act is passed but not earlier than the appointed day,
(c) the licence authorised the carrying on of activities in or on land in England or Wales, and
(d) relevant activities have taken place at a time falling not more than one year before the day on which this Act is passed,
the licence shall (subject to subsection (7)) for all purposes be deemed not to have expired but to have become, at the time of expiry, a site licence continuing in force in accordance with section 35(11) of the 1990 Act.
(2) Subsection (3) applies where--
(a) a disposal licence under section 5 of the 1974 Act expired at a time ("the time of expiry") falling before the appointed day (so that it was not converted into a site licence by section 77(2) of the 1990 Act),
(b) the licence authorised the carrying on of activities in or on land in England or Wales, and
(c) relevant activities have taken place at a time falling not more than one year before the day on which this Act is passed.
(3) The licence shall (subject to subsection (7)) for all purposes be deemed--
(a) not to have expired, and
(b) to have been subsisting on the appointed day and (accordingly) to have become on that day a site licence by virtue of section 77(2) of the 1990 Act,
and the site licence which the licence is deemed to have become on that day shall for all purposes be deemed to have been one that continues in force in accordance with section 35(11) of the 1990 Act.
(4) Where--
(a) a site licence in force immediately before the day on which this Act is passed--
(i) became a site licence by virtue of section 77(2) of the 1990 Act, and
(ii) will expire on or after the day on which this Act is passed (if it has not previously been revoked entirely, or had its surrender accepted, under Part II of the 1990 Act), and
(b) relevant activities have taken place at a time falling not more than one year before that day,
the licence shall for all purposes be deemed to have become at the beginning of that day a site licence continuing in force in accordance with section 35(11) of the 1990 Act.
(5) Where subsection (1), (3) or (4) has effect in relation to a licence, the terms and conditions of the licence as continued in force by that subsection shall, except so far as providing for the expiry of the licence and subject to subsection (6)(b) and (c), be such as were
(a) where subsection (1) or (3) has effect in relation to a licence, the time of expiry;
(b) where subsection (4) has effect in relation to a licence, the beginning of the day on which this Act is passed.
(6) Where subsection (1) or (3) has effect in relation to a licence (but without prejudice to the generality of that subsection)--
(a) activities carried out during the interim period which (by virtue of subsection (1) or (3)) become authorised by the licence shall be treated as authorised at the time they were carried out (even though at that time their being carried out amounted to a contravention of section 33(1)(a) or (b) of the 1990 Act or section 3(1) of the 1974 Act);
(b) anything done in relation to the licence before the time of expiry but purporting to take effect after that time (such as the serving of a notice under section 37(4) or 38(12) of the 1990 Act, or in pursuance of section 7 of the 1974 Act, specifying a time falling during or after the interim period) shall be treated as having had (or having) effect as if the licence had not in fact expired;
(c) anything which during the interim period purported to be done in relation to the licence (such as a modification of the licence or the revocation, suspension, transfer or acceptance of the surrender of the licence or the carrying out of consultation, exercise of functions under section 9 of the 1974 Act or section 42 of the 1990 Act, imposition of requirements during a suspension or bringing or determination of an appeal) shall be treated as having had effect as if the licence had then been in force;
(d) any fees which (by virtue of subsection (1) or (3)) are treated as having become payable before the passing of this Act shall be taken to have become payable at the time they would have become payable had the licence not in fact expired; and
(e) the holder of the licence shall be treated as having been, during the interim period, an authorised person for the purposes of section 34(1)(c) of the 1990 Act.
(7) Where subsection (1) or (3) has effect in relation to a licence, a person shall not be guilty of an offence under section 33(6) or 38(10) or (11) of the 1990 Act as a result of anything done or omitted to be done during the interim period becoming (by virtue of subsection (1) or (3)) a contravention of any condition of the licence or (as the case may be) a failure to comply with any requirement imposed under section 38(9) of the 1990 Act.
(8) Nothing in this section affects any criminal proceedings which have been concluded before the passing of this Act.
(9) The waste regulation authority (within the meaning given by section 30(1) of the 1990 Act) shall notify the holder of a licence affected by this section of the fact that the licence is so affected and of how it is so affected.
(10) For the purposes of this section "relevant activities", in relation to a licence, are--
(a) any activities authorised by the licence or, in the case of an expired licence, any which would have been authorised by it had it not expired, and
(b) any precautions or works required by the licence to be taken or carried out in connection with or in consequence of those activities or, in the case of an expired licence, any which would have been so required had the licence not expired.
(11) In this section--
"the 1974 Act" means the Control of Pollution Act 1974;
"the 1990 Act" means the Environmental Protection Act 1990;
"the interim period", in connection with a licence in relation to which subsection (1) or (3) has effect, means the period beginning with the time of expiry and ending immediately before the day on which this Act is passed;
"site licence" has the same meaning as it has in Part II of the 1990 Act by virtue of section 35(12) of that Act.'.--[Mr. Meale.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
4.19 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Mr. Alan Meale): I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Madam Speaker: With this we may discuss Government amendments Nos. 3 to 5.
Mr. Meale: First, I want to explain that one of the deficiencies of the waste licensing scheme originally introduced under the Control of Pollution Act 1974 was that those who held licences for waste operations, such as landfill sites, could simply hand in their licences and walk away from their responsibilities. In line with the polluter pays principle, that was rectified in the revised licensing scheme introduced under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
As the House is aware, the 1990 Act provides that a site licence remains in force until a surrender application is made to the environment agencies. What is more, it precludes the agencies from accepting surrender applications unless they are satisfied that environmental pollution or harm to human health is unlikely to occur. The issue that the new clause and the amendments address, therefore, is time-limited licences that were originally granted under the 1974 Act.
The transitional provision in section 77(2) of the 1990 Act contains two statements on those time-limited licences. One is that they are to be treated as 1990 Act licences until they expire. The other is that they may be surrendered only in accordance with the 1990 Act. We are removing that. It is obviously anomalous to require a licence holder to apply to the environment agencies to surrender his or her licence while the time limit remains in force, but to allow him or her to walk away from his or her responsibilities when the time limit expires.
By way of a further example showing the need for these changes, I can inform the House that a review carried out by the Environment Agency has revealed that many licences originally granted under the 1974 Act, and inherited from the former waste regulation authorities in April 1996, are subject to time limits and that, in some cases, the licences have expired without either the agency or the operator being aware of it. In some cases where the licence has expired, the sites are continuing to be operated, and of course to be supervised by the agency, as though they had valid licences. As the House is aware, it is a criminal offence to operate those sites without a licence. Therefore, the current situation is clearly unacceptable.
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