CLAUSE 71.—(Regulations and orders.) (Hansard, 21 April 1947)

§ The Lord Advocate
I beg to move, in page 55, line 22, to leave out Subsection (1) and to insert: (1) The following regulations and orders made under this Act— 723

(a) all regulations (except regulations made under Section sixty-four or Section sixty-five);

(b) all orders made under Subsection (2) of Section two or under Section eight or under Subsection (3) of Section thirty or under Section seventy-three;

(c) such of the orders made under Subsection (1) of Section eleven as determine the areas for which regional hospital boards are to be constituted; and

(d) such of the orders made under Sub section (7) or Subsection (8) of Section twenty as are required to be preceded by an inquiry;

shall be laid before Parliament immediately after they are made, and if either House of Parliament, within the period of forty days beginning with the day on which any such regulations or order are or is laid before it, resolves that the regulations or order be annulled the regulations or order shall cease to have effect, but without prejudice to anything previously done there under or to the making of new regulations or a new order. In reckoning any such period of forty days, no account shall be taken of any time during which Parliament is dissolved or prorogued or during which both Houses are adjourned for more than four days. This is a formal Amendment which is necessary because when the Bill was drafted it was done on the assumption that the Statutory Instruments Act would have been in operation before the Bill became law. This is not the case, and the Clause has had to be redrafted to meet the present situation.

§ Lieut.-Colonel Elliot
We have two Amendments down on the Order Paper but they will not be in Order if Subsection (1) is dropped, and they would not apply exactly to the Subsection which it is intended to insert by this Amendment. However, before Subsection (1) is dropped, it might be worth while to say that we had hoped it would be possible to deal under that with the schemes submitted to the Secretary of State by a regional hospital board. I do not know whether the Secretary of State can make any pronouncement on that or not.

§ Lieut.-Colonel Elliot
The Secretary of State indicates that he is unable to do so at the moment, but would he look at it between now and the passage of the Bill through another place? If so, I am quite willing not to move either of the Amendments.

§ Lieut.-Colonel Elliot
I would like a little more than a nod of the head, which it is difficult to report in HANSARD.

§ Mr. Westwood
Usually HANSARD states that the Minister "indicated assent," and I have done so.
Amendment agreed to.

§ Commander Galbraith
I beg to move, in page 55, line 42, at the end, to insert: (3) No order shall be made by the Secretary of State under subsections (b) or (8) of Section eight of this Act unless a draft of the proposed order has been approved by resolution of each House of Parliament. Clause 8 deals with the Hospital Endowments Commission, and Subsection (6) empowers the Secretary of State by order to approve any schemes which have been submitted to him by the Hospital Endowments Commission. Important schemes will be put forward by that Commission, and we believe that in view of their importance it would be right that they should be submitted to a positive Resolution of both Houses of Parliament. Subsection (8), after the expiry of the powers of the Hospital Endowments Commission, empowers the Secretary of State himself to frame schemes in regard to endowments, and instead of approving them he confirms them. We consider that these also are important matters which should be submitted to Parliament.

§ Mr. Niall Macpherson
I beg to second the Amendment.

§ Mr. Westwood
The importance of the matters dealt with in the orders covered by the Amendment does not seem to me to warrant adopting the affirmative Resolution procedure, which is usually kept for matters of major moment. There will probably be a considerable number of endowment provision schemes, so that the affirmative Resolution procedure might be taking up a fairly substantial amount of Parliamentary time, even in cases where no point of real importance was at issue so far as these schemes were concerned. The provision in the Bill that such orders may be annulled on the Prayer of any Member, I submit, gives Parliament full opportunity of raising a Debate on any question of sufficient importance to justify this course, and therefore I cannot accept the Amendment.

§ Lieut.-Colonel Elliot: We
regret the decision of the Secretary of State in this case. 725 It seems to us that the mere fact that there may be a, number of schemes under the Commission is rather an added reason for bringing them to the notice of Parliament. But we are all anxious to pass on to the concluding stages of the Bill and in that case, although I do not ask leave to withdraw the Amendment, we shall be content to have the Amendment negatived.