HC Deb 11 July 1957 vol 573 cc565-6

Lords Amendment: In page 22, line 8, at end insert: (6) In this and the next following section obligation' includes any such customary obligation as is referred to in subsection (5) of section fifty-four of the principal Act (which relates to certain customary obligations in respect of pensions).

Mr. Renton

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

I suggest that this Amendment and the Lords Amendment in page 42, line 46, go together. The second is consequential upon the first.

Under Section 54 (5) of the 1947 Act it was provided that, subject to any pension regulations made by the Minister, any "customary obligations," to use the statutory phrase, which were observed by the former owners of electricity undertakings with regard to pension schemes should be transferred to the electricity boards. That meant that when the various rights, liabilities, duties and obligations of electricity boards were made the subject of transferred provisions, these so-called customary obligations were included with them. It is necessary to make sure that obligations of that kind, inherited from the pre-nationalisation regime by the Central Electricity Authority, should also be transferred respectively to the Generating Board and the Electricity Council.

The Amendments are necessary for that purpose and achieve it by giving a definition of the word "obligation" at the end of Clause 24, the one which deals with the transfer of assets and liabilities of the Central Electricity Authority, and, secondly, by ensuring that any proceedings in respect of a customary obligation which happen to be pending at the time the transfer takes place are continued under the provisions of the Second Schedule. That will be the effect of the second Amendment.

Sir F. Soskice

I rise only to say that we on this side of the House are grateful to the Minister for removing anxieties which we entertained and expressed in Committee on whether customary obligations were adequately covered by the language of the Bill. The Minister has now put that beyond all doubt and I am grateful to him. By his second Amendment, the right hon. Gentleman has removed any possible difficulty of construction in relation to existing proceeds. For that, also, I thank him. I think that in this respect the Bill is now satisfactory.

Question put and agreed to.