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Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton moved Amendments Nos. 240 to 243:
Page 39, line 20, column 2, at end insert "In article 17(2) of the Schedule, the words from "and the Minister" to the end."
| "Norfolk and Suffolk BroadsAct 1988 (c. 4) | In Schedule 3, paragraph38(1)(b)." |
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Schedule 5, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 49 [ Power to amend enactments]:
Baroness Byford moved Amendment No. 244:
The noble Baroness said: The amendment is tabled in order to obtain clarification from the Minister. Does the wording of the Bill mean that an Act passed after the Commons Bill receives Royal Assent can be changed under the provisions of this clause? We have the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill following in the same Session, but subsection (3) states:
"In this section, 'relevant Act' means any public general Act passed before, or in the same session as, this Act",
which obviously it would be. Which Act or Acts does the Minister have in mind? Will she explain why an Act that does not receive Royal Assent until the passing of this Act would not be amended during its passage? I beg to move.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: We agree with the point raised by the noble Baroness and we are prepared to consider it.
Baroness Byford: I am grateful. It was ironic that the two Bills are running alongside each other and we tabled this amendment. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton moved Amendment No. 245:
"POWER TO AMEND ENACTMENTS CONFERRING FUNCTIONS ON NATIONAL AUTHORITIES
(1) A national authority may by order amend or repeal any provision of a local or personal Act which applies to common land for any of the following purposes—
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(a) to remove any function of the national authority which relates to the common land;
(b) to transfer such a function from the national authority to another person;
(c) to remove a requirement that the national authority be consulted, or that its consent be obtained, in respect of—
(i) any act or omission relating to the common land; or
(ii) any act or omission of a person concerned with the management of the common land;
(d) to substitute for a requirement referred to in paragraph (c) a requirement that a person other than the national authority be consulted, or his consent obtained, in relation to the act or omission.
(2) In subsection (1), "common land" means—
(a) any land registered as common land or as a town or village green;
(b) any land referred to in section 5(2); and
(c) any land not falling within paragraph (a) or (b) which is subject to a scheme under the Metropolitan Commons Act 1866 (c. 122) or the Commons Act 1899 (c. 30).
(3) A national authority may by order amend or repeal any provision of an Act made under the Commons Act 1876 (c. 56) confirming a provisional order of the Inclosure Commissioners for any of the following purposes—
(a) to remove any function of the national authority which relates to land to which the Act applies;
(b) to transfer such a function from the national authority to another person;
(c) to remove a requirement that the national authority be consulted, or that its consent be obtained, in respect of—
(i) any act or omission relating to land to which the Act applies; or
(ii) any act or omission of a person concerned with the management of such land;
(d) to substitute for a requirement referred to in paragraph (c) a requirement that a person other than the national authority be consulted, or his consent obtained, in relation to the act or omission.
(4) In this section "national authority" means—
(a) the Secretary of State; and
(b) the National Assembly for Wales."
The noble Baroness said: In moving Amendment No. 245, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 246 and 248. A number of old or archaic local or personal Acts or provisional order confirmation Acts made under the Commons Act 1876 impose duties or confer powers on the Secretary of State, or require bodies to obtain the consent of the Secretary of State to activities relating to common land.
It is impossible to identify all such Acts, although we have identified several that contain such duties. Government Amendment No. 245 will enable us to review any local or personal Acts or provisional order confirmation Acts to see whether the duties or powers imposed on the Secretary of State or requirements to obtain her consent continue to be relevant. If not, we could by order amend or repeal the relevant provisions or confer the power or duty on another person. That is a modernising power to help us to review duties that might have been appropriate in the past, some of them arising in enactments dating back to the 19th century.
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Given the number of such enactments, it has not been possible to identify and review them all and we believe the powers sought under the clause are therefore reasonable and appropriate.
Government Amendments Nos. 246 and 248 are technical amendments consequent on Amendment No. 245. They provide that the new clause will come into effect two months after the Bill is enacted. I ask the Committee to accept the amendments. I beg to move.
The Duke of Montrose: Our Amendment No. 247 is grouped with the government amendments. First, as we are reviewing and redrafting all the laws of commons, it seems strange that the Government are taking the attitude of saying, "There are a whole lot of laws and we have not had time to look at them". One would think that they should have been looked at. I am not too clear on how these things are dealt with in such legislation. Our amendment is merely probing, because there were no Explanatory Notes on subsection (2). I would be grateful if the Minister would tell us what lies behind that and, presumably, behind their Amendment No. 248, which amends subsection (2).
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: I can understand that the noble Duke is concerned about agreeing to what is clearly a wide-ranging power. I reassure the Committee that we will not take any action to remove or amend such powers without full consultation with interested parties. I can also reassure the Committee that any order made by the Secretary of State under the clause would be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. Where an order has an especial local impact, as seems likely—a large number of very local enactments could be affected under the Bill—the Standing Orders of both Houses will enable people to petition against the Bill and to be heard by a Committee of both Houses.
About 20,000 local and private Acts have been passed since the start of the 19th century. It is impossible to know what is in them all and to cross-check them. I was grateful and surprised to receive that information at such short notice—extremely grateful and even more surprised.
Amendment No. 247, to which the noble Duke spoke, would remove the provision that this clause and the existing Clause 49 would come into effect two months after the Bill is passed. Both those clauses contain powers to make orders. I understand that it is normal practice for such powers to be brought into force soon after Royal Assent and that two months is the usual period allowed. A case has not been made to depart from convention in this instance. I hope that the noble Duke will withdraw his amendment.
Lord Livsey of Talgarth: I have just a couple of points to make. One of them is a bit frivolous. I knew several people, now departed from this earth, who
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purported to know those 20,000 Acts and were well versed. It is a pity that they passed on, because they knew an awful lot about what went on in the past.
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