§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour (Mr. McCorquodale)I beg to move, in page 2, line 27, after, "obligation," to insert, "under this section."
1441 During the Committee Debate my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesend (Sir I. Albery) raised the point that paragraph 1 of the First Schedule and this Clause appeared to be somewhat inconsistent and asked whether we could slightly alter the Bill so that anybody reading it would not be misled as to what was intended. We therefore ask leave to insert these words to make it quite plain that Clause 1 stands by itself and that the First Schedule also stands by itself.
§ Major Manningham Buller (Daventry)I have listened to the Parliamentary Secretary but I am not at all dear about the effect of this Amendment. The Section which creates the obligation for the employer is Section I and the Amendment merely puts in the words "under this Section," that is the Section creating the obligation. It still seems to leave the provision in paragraph 2 (b) in direct conflict with the terms of the first paragraph of the Second Schedule. They do not seem to be in the least reconciled. Perhaps my hon. Friend will make it clear which provision has priority over the other, because they seem to be mutually inconsistent and the inconsistency is not cured by this Amendment.
§ The Solicitor-General (Major Sir David Maxwell Fyfe)I hope I shall be able to help my hon. and gallant Friend on the point he has raised. Clause 1 relates to the employer's obligation to reinstate and provides in sub-section 2 (b) that in no case shall a former employer be under any obligation to take an applicant into his employment after six months have elapsed from the end of the present emergency. That is the original obligation to take the applicant into his employment. The Second Schedule does not deal with the employer's obligation at all. It makes provision as to the nature of the Orders to be made by a Reinstatement Committee. It is conceivable to have the position where the original obligation on the part of the employer arose before the end of the Emergency. There is some negotiation and the man is put off for a period and the case does not get before the Reinstatement Committee until a period which would make their order come into force after the end of the Emergency. We want to cover that position. It is that distinction between the original obligation to take the man back and the 1442 order that can be made by the Reinstatement Committee which we have emphasised by putting in the words "under this Section," to show clearly that this is dealing with the original obligation.
§ Amendment agreed to.