S.C.A.
Amendment Paper as at
Tuesday 10th December 2002
STANDING COMMITTEE A
REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES (PREPARATIONS) BILL
(Except Clause Nos 1 to 4)
NOTE
The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Order of the Committee. [3rd December]
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
7
Clause 7, page 3, line 38, at end add 'provided that the Electoral Commission shall certify that anything done under this section is not likely, in the Commission's judgement, disproportionately to benefit one of the possible outcomes of the referendum.'.
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
27
Clause 7, page 3, line 38, at end add 'subject to voters being given the option of voting at polling stations'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
33
Clause 7, page 3, line 38, at end add 'provided that any such thing that the Electoral Commission do shall treat abstention as an act of participation and shall draw attention to the effect of abstention in such a referendum'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
28
Clause 8, page 4, line 13, at end add 'and the significance to the outcome of the referendum of abstention'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
29
Clause 8, page 4, line 20, leave out subsection (4) and insert 'No Minister of the Crown may make any order under section 109(6) of the 2000 Act in respect of a referendum held pursuant to section 1 above'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
8
Clause 8, page 4, line 24, leave out from 'secure' to end of line 26 and insert 'a dissemination of such information to the maximum number of persons entitled to vote in the referendum that can be cost effectively achieved'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
34
Clause 8, page 4, line 26, at end add—
'(6) The cost incurred by the Electoral Commission pursuant to this section may not exceed the aggregate of the maximum permitted grants that the Electoral Commission would be empowered to make under subsection 110(2) of the 2000 Act if it had designated a participant in respect of each of the possible outcomes of the proposed referendum'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
9
Clause 9, page 4, line 44, at end add 'and publishes the Electoral Commission's response'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
4
Clause 10, page 5, line 3, leave out 'No Court shall' and insert 'A court shall only'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
5
Clause 10, page 5, line 6, at end add 'if such a claim is brought within 10 days of the date of the referendum as specified in the order under section 2(1).'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
10
Clause 11, page 5, line 13, leave out subsection (2).
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
55
Clause 11, page 5, line 19, at end insert—
'(3A) For the purpose of any order made by the Secretary of State under section 129 of the 2000 Act in connection with a referendum pursuant to section 1 the expression "in different parts of the United Kingdom" shall mean England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and shall not mean regions of England as defined in section 26.'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
56
Clause 11, page 5, line 19, at end insert—
'(3A) For the purposes of a referendum pursuant to section 1, paragraph (2) of Schedule 14 to the 2000 Act shall be so that any financial limit referred to in that paragraph is the amount set out in that paragraph multiplied by the fraction that the population of the region in which the referendum in question is being held bears to the population of the United Kingdom as a whole.'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
64
Clause 11, page 5, line 19, at end insert—
'(3A) For the purposes of a referendum pursuant to section 1, "the relevant period" as defined by subsection (4)(b) of the 2000 Act shall be taken to be the period commencing on the appropriate day as defined in subsection 8(3) of the Act.'.
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
41
Clause 12, page 5, line 32, leave out 'if' and insert 'Whether or not'.
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
42
Clause 12, page 5, line 36, at end insert—
'(1A) The Secretary of State may only direct the Boundary Committee for England to undertake a local government review in subsection (1) above if he has first considered the level of interest in relevant local authorities for that local government review'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
11
Clause 12, page 5, line 37, leave out 'But'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
12
Clause 12, page 5, line 37, after 'direction', insert 'under subsection (1)'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
13
Clause 12, page 5, line 37, leave out from 'has' to end of line 38 and insert 'concluded on the basis of the evidence available to him that there is likely to be a majority in favour of an elected assembly if a referendum is held in that region'.
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
43
Clause 12, page 5, line 38, leave out from 'interest' to end of line and insert 'in the relevant local authority areas in any local government review'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
14
Clause 12, page 6, line 1, leave out subsection (3).
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
44
Clause 12, page 6, line 9, at end insert 'and shall publish all such views, information and evidence in an appropriate form.'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
15
Clause 12, page 6, line 11, after 'direction', insert 'under subsection (1)'.
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
46
Clause 12, page 6, line 11, after 'State', insert 'must take as his primary consideration the level of interest in holding a referendum and'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
16
Clause 12, page 6, line 11, leave out 'may' and insert 'shall'.
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
53
Clause 12, page 6, line 17, leave out paragraph (c).
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
45
Clause 12, page 6, line 18, leave out 'two' and insert 'three'.
Mr Edward Davey
Matthew Green
54
Clause 12, page 6, line 20, leave out paragraph (d).
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
17
Clause 12, page 6, line 24, at end insert—
'(5A) If the Secretary of State makes a direction under subsection (1) he shall cause to be paid to every relevant local authority in the region concerned such sum as the Boundary Committee shall advise him represents a reasonable estimate of the likely cost (in the case of each individual relevant authority) to that authority of the direction.'.
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
18
Clause 12, page 6, line 31, leave out subsection (7).
David Davis
Mr Eric Pickles
Mr Philip Hammond
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Mr Desmond Swayne
19
Clause 12, page 6, line 38, at end insert 'and published their response'.
