HL Deb 02 November 1989 vol 512 cc411-2

46 Clause 11, leave out Clause 11.

47 Clause 12, page 11, line 20, leave out 'designated reporting agency' and insert 'police station'.

48 Page 11, line 31, at end insert— '( ) The "enforcing authority" means such organisation established by the Secretary of State under section 41 of the Police Act 1964 (common services organisations) as the Secretary of State designates for the purposes of this Part of this Act by order made by statutory instrument.'.

49 Page 11, line 32, leave out subsection (7).

50 Clause 13, page 12, line 21, leave out from 'the' to end of line 26 and insert 'police station in England or Wales at which the person subject to the order is to report initially'.

Lord Hesketh

My Lords, I beg to move that this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 46 to 50 en bloc. I beg to move.

Moved, That this House do agree with the Commons in the said amendments. —(Lord Hesketh.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.

Lord Hesketh

My Lords, I propose to move that this House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 51 to 90 en bloc.

Lord Northfield

My Lords, it is almost an abuse of our procedures to move so many amendments, some of them quite substantial, without any explanation. If the noble Lord were to stand up and say that nearly all of them are drafting amendments or of no consequence perhaps my fears would be proved groundless. However, it is not proper to move some 40 amendments en bloc without a single word of explanation.

Lord Hesketh

My Lords, I apologise to the House. Before moving the amendments I should have stated to the House that I had agreed with the two Opposition spokesmen that we should proceed to Amendment No. 97A, which is the next Opposition amendment, if they had no objection. If I have caused the noble Lord, Lord Northfield, any offence or distress, I apologise.

The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)

My Lords, the position is that, if there is an objection to moving Amendments Nos. 51 to 90 en bloc, I must take the amendments separately.

Lord Northfield

My Lords, I have no objection to the amendments being taken in groups. However, they deal with totally different subjects. Some of them are important; some are unimportant. It would have been helpful if the noble Lord had risen to say, for example, that Amendments Nos. 51 to 56 are drafting amendments, Amendments Nos. 56 and 57 are something else, and so on, so that at least we should know where we stood. As it is Parliament is being asked to be a rubber stamp. It is not proper.

The Lord Chancellor

My Lords, I propose to put Amendment No. 51 to the House.