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Lord Selkirk of Douglas: I am grateful to the Minister for her assurances. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 104 [Transfer of property: supplementary]:
Lord Hardie moved Amendments Nos. 292H to 292N:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 104, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 105 [Ministers of the Crown]:
Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale moved Amendment No. 292HNA.
The noble Baroness said: In moving Amendment No. 292HNA, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 292JNA, 292KNA and 292LNA. This is a set of technical amendments designed to clarify the operation of Clauses 105, 106 and 107, which deal with general modifications of enactments.
Clause 105 provides for references to a Minister of the Crown in various forms of legislation to be read in appropriate cases as being or including a reference to the Scottish ministers. At present this will apply where functions are exercisable by a member of the Scottish executive by virtue of Clause 49. Amendments Nos. 292HNA and 292JNA adapt this so that the clause applies where a member of the Scottish executive exercises functions within devolved competence, aligning it with the wording now used elsewhere in the Bill. Amendment No. 292KNA alters the description of the legislation to which the clause applies to make it clear that it applies to documents which may, in terms of particular legislation, be termed "instruments". Amendment No. 292LNA ensures that references to Ministers of the Crown are caught however they may be described in particular legislation.
I turn to Amendments Nos. 292MNA and 292SNA. Clause 106 translates provisions in pre-commencement enactments so that subordinate legislation is laid before the Scottish parliament instead of this Parliament in appropriate cases. Amendments Nos. 292MNA and 292NNA in Clause 106 similarly link the operation of that clause to the concept of devolved competence rather than depend on the transfer of the functions through Clause 49.
Amendment No. 292PNA clarifies the application of the clause where the function of making the subordinate legislation is exercisable by a person other than a Minister of the Crown, such as Her Majesty, the Registrar General or the courts.
Amendments Nos. 292UNA to 292WNA divide Clause 107 into two clauses by separating subsection (8) which deals with accounts and audits from the remainder of the clause which deals with payments into and out of the Consolidated Fund. A consequential amendment is made to Clause 108. The amendments are purely presentational and have no substantial effect. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Hardie moved Amendments Nos. 292JNA to 292LNA:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 105, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 106 [Subordinate instruments]:
Lord Hardie moved Amendments Nos. 292MNA to 292SNA:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 106, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 107 [Consolidated Fund, etc.]:
Lord Hardie moved Amendments Nos. 292TNA and 292UNA:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 107, as amended, agreed to.
Lord Hardie moved Amendment No. 292VNA:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 108 [Requirements to lay reports etc. before Parliament]:
Lord Hardie moved Amendment No. 292WNA:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 108, as amended, agreed to.
On Question, Whether Clause 110 shall stand part of the Bill?
Lord Fraser of Carmyllie: The Committee has formally agreed that a large number of amendments should be made to the Bill without any intervention. The Government will appreciate that some of them are, or potentially may be, extremely complicated. Without something like a Keeling schedule it is extremely difficult to work out exactly what they amount to. Without suggesting that we will make difficulties about them, I simply place on record that we want an opportunity to see them in their context and may return to some of them at Report stage.
Lord Renton: Earlier I suggested that the Lord Advocate was a Minster of the Crown. Clause 110 makes it clear that he is a Minister of the Crown although I was told at the time that he would no longer be.
Lord Hardie: The very fact that the Lord Advocate has ceased to be a Minister of the Crown requires Clause 110 to give him exemption from stamp duty. Therefore, I am added back in for the purpose of exemption from stamp duty. I am sure that the noble Lord would not wish me to pay stamp duty unnecessarily.
Clause 110 agreed to.
Page 49, line 9, leave out (", 60").
Page 49, line 9, leave out ("or 85") and insert (", 85 or (Agreed redistribution of property and liabilities)").
Page 49, line 13, leave out ("under the") and insert ("by virtue of such").
Page 49, line 15, leave out ("the") and insert ("such").
Page 49, line 17, leave out ("by or under the") and insert ("by virtue of such").
Page 49, line 47, at end insert--
("( ) A certificate issued by the Secretary of State that any property or liability has, or has not, been transferred by virtue of subordinate legislation under section 56 or 58 or paragraph 2 of Schedule 2 shall be conclusive evidence of the transfer or (as the case may be) the fact that there has not been a transfer.
( ) A certificate issued by the Secretary of State and the Scottish Ministers that any property or liability has, or has not, been transferred by virtue of an Order in Council under section 85 or (Agreed redistribution of property and liabilities) shall be conclusive evidence of the transfer or (as the case may be) the fact that there has not been a transfer.").
Page 50, line 5, after ("exercise") insert ("of a function").
Page 50, line 5, leave out from ("Executive") to ("any") in line 6 and insert ("within devolved competence").
Page 50, line 6, leave out from ("enactment") to ("document") in line 7 and insert ("or prerogative instrument, and any other instrument or").
Page 50, line 8, after ("Crown") insert ("(however described)").
Page 50, line 10, leave out ("by virtue of section 49") and insert ("within devolved competence").
Page 50, line 20, leave out ("virtue of section 49") and insert ("a member of the Scottish Executive within devolved competence").
Page 50, line 22, leave out subsection (3) and insert--
("(3) Where--
(a) a function of making, confirming or approving subordinate legislation conferred by a pre-commencement enactment is exercisable by a Scottish public authority to which paragraph 1 or 2 of Part III of Schedule 5 applies, and
(b) a pre-commencement enactment makes such provision in relation to the exercise of the function as is mentioned in subsection (2),
the provision shall have effect, so far as it relates to the exercise of the function by that authority, as if any reference in it to Parliament or either House of Parliament were a reference to the Scottish Parliament.
(3A) Where--
(a) a function of making, confirming or approving subordinate legislation conferred by a pre-commencement enactment is exercisable within devolved competence by a person other than a Minister of the Crown, a member of the Scottish Executive or a Scottish public authority to which paragraph 1 or 2 of Part III of Schedule 5 applies, and
(b) a pre-commencement enactment makes such provision in relation to the exercise of the function as is mentioned in subsection (2),
the provision shall have effect, so far as it relates to the exercise of the function by that person within devolved competence, as if any reference in it to Parliament or either House of Parliament were a reference to the Scottish Parliament.").
Page 50, line 27, after ("(3)") insert ("or (3A)").
Page 50, line 28, leave out from ("as") to ("as") in line 29 and insert ("the function is exercisable as mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) or, as the case may be, (3A)").
Page 50, line 31, leave out subsection (5).
Page 50, line 33, leave out subsection (1) and insert--
("(1) In this section "Scottish functions" means--
(a) functions of the Scottish Ministers, the First Minister or the Lord Advocate which are exercisable within devolved competence,
(b) functions of any Scottish public authority to which paragraph 1 or 2 of Part III of Schedule 5 applies.").
Page 51, line 37, after ("functions") insert ("(within the meaning of subsections (1) to (7))").
Divide Clause 107 into two Clauses, the first (Consolidated Fund, etc.) to consist of subsections (1) to (7) and the second (Accounts and audit) to consist of subsection (8).
Page 52, line 5, leave out ("107") and insert ("(Consolidated Fund, etc.)").
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