Bearsden and Milngavie District Council Order Confirmation Bill (Hansard, 27 January 1981)

§ The Minister of State, Scottish Office (The Earl of Mansfield)
My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill do now pass.

§ Lord Ross of Marnock
My Lords, this is the first of three identical Bills—and, by the way, we have a Scottish and rather idiosyncratic way of pronouncing "M-i-l-n-g-a-v-i-e": we pronounce it "Mulnguy". The people of that part of Scotland are very particular about that. The point that I wish to raise is as follows. Shall we have any more than these three? This, to my knowledge, is about the tenth Bill that we have had in the last year which is absolutely identical. I think that probably most of the district councils have now gone through the expensive procedure of having a Private Bill, obviously with the support of the Government, to allow them to spend money.
I raised this matter last year and the Minister of State suggested to me that of course it would be supported through the rate support grant. We have had a new rate support grant order. Can he tell me whether the local authorities have asked for and got money through the rate support grant to support this new expenditure, which seems rather strange in these days of economy? If so, how much is it, and have any of the local authorities taken the chance of using the power to appoint someone to look after stray dogs?
It really is quite ridiculous that one after the other of all the local authorities in Scotland, the district councils, should present these Bills. It must cost them a great deal of money. Somebody is doing well out of it—probably parliamentary counsel. However, we have already been promised by the Scottish Office that there will be a great modernisation Bill in relation to the powers of local authorities. Could it not have waited for that? It would have saved the time of this House and the ratepayers' money. Indeed, as I suspect nobody has done anything about it, the delay would not have created any difficulty at all.

§ The Earl of Mansfield
My Lords, your Lordships have been over this course before and the noble Lord, Lord Ross of Marnock, is quite right. I think that the time before last I responded to him in your Lordships' Chamber and followed it up with a letter. The resource implications of these confirmation Bills are extremely modest. The only details which I have come from Edinburgh, which has appointed two dog wardens and the whole operation costs a few thousand pounds in respect of their wages and certain back-up. So we are really talking in de minimis terms. I quite agree with the noble Lord that it would be beneficial from all points of view if there were a general power to 628 appoint dog wardens on the part of the local authorities. That proposal was set out in the consultation paper, Proposals for a Code of Civic Government in Scotland, which was published in July last year, 1980. I very much hope that a Bill to give effect to these proposals will be before your Lordships' House before the noble Lord, Lord Ross, recovers from Burns' night next year.