§ As soon as may be after the thirty-first day of March in the year nineteen hundred and sixty-one and each subsequent year the Board shall prepare a report on the discharge of its functions under this Act and under subsection 1007 (4) of section fourteen of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, and subsection (4) of section twelve of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1947, and shall lay the report before Parliament.—[Mr. Maudling.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ The President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Reginald Maudling)I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.
The Clause is in fulfilment of an undertaking which I gave to the Opposition in Committee that an annual report should be presented to Parliament by the Board of Trade covering the discharge of its functions under the Bill when enacted. The Clause is worded to cover everything the Opposition had in mind and I hope, therefore, that the House will be prepared to accept it.
§ Mr. Thomas Fraser (Hamilton)My right hon. and hon. Friends and I are very grateful to the President of the Board of Trade for tabling the new Clause. As he said, it gives us all that we asked for in Committee. The annual report will provide right hon. and hon. Members with all the information necessary to enable them to review from year to year what is being done under the Bill when it becomes an Act of Parliament. That will be of greater value to us than merely to have a review, as was suggested so frequently yesterday, at about the end of seven years, when the powers will expire. This is a sensible thing to do and we are grateful to the right hon. Gentleman.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.