§ 3.35 p.m.
§ The Minister of State, Scottish Office (Lord Glenarthur)My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ Moved, That it be an instruction to the Committee of the Whole House to whom the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Bill has been committed that they consider the Bill in the following order—
- Clauses 1 and 2,
- Schedule 1,
- Clauses 3 to 21,
- Schedule 2,
- Clause 22,
- Schedule 3,
- Clause 23,
- Schedule 4,
- Clauses 24 and 25,
- Schedule 5,
- Clauses 26 to 31,
- Schedule 6,
- Clause 32.—(Lord Glenurthur.)
§ Lord Ross of MarnockMy Lords, while not disagreeing with the Motion of the noble Lord, I should like to ask him whether he will help the House. On avidly reading this Bill noble Lords will be aware that there is rather eccentric numbering of the lines of two pages. Will he give some guidance to the House so that our proceedings will be a little more comprehensible than they might otherwise be?
§ Lord GlenarthurMy Lords, I am aware of that point. I do not think that the Bill can be reprinted before the Committee stage. Nevertheless, when it comes to the consideration of the amendments I shall 297 ensure that there is no doubt about which particular line on which particular page the appropriate amendments belong to.
§ Lord Ross of MarnockMy Lords, it is very difficult for people who are trying to put down amendments on this Bill. It is not good enough to say that it cannot be done before the Committee stage. It cannot be done at all. If the Minister consults the Public Bill Office—as I did—he will discover that the computer cannot cope with this kind of thing.
§ Lord GlenarthurMy Lords, I do not think that I can deal with this from this Box but I shall certainly look into the point that the noble Lord makes to see whether there is any way that the matter can be dealt with. I shall do my best to achieve that immediately.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.