§ Lords Amendment considered.
§ Clause 9.—(Short title, saving, commencement AND EXTENT.)
§ Lords Amendment: In page 4, line 40, leave out "which is contained in" and insert "made by or under".
§ 10.13 p.m.
§ Mr. Nicholas Ridley (Cirencester and Tewkesbury)I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
This Amendment was moved by my noble Friend, Lady Elliot, in another place. It is in response to a point made by the Law Society that certain aspects of the Bill—which is otherwise accepted, I think, by all hon. Members—were not quite clear in regard to the question of access to local government records and documents by solicitors and others in the course of their duties. The point was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mr. Graham Page) on Third Reading, but I was fortunate, perhaps, to dodge the battle which was fought over this and, as I say, it was also fought in another place.
I believe that the Amendment makes the position perfectly satisfactory to the Law Society and covers the difficulty about which there was some doubt, as to whether as drafted the Bill made it possible that local authorities could withhold information which they otherwise would have had to give with regard, first, to searches relating to property and, secondly, to actions which might be taken.
§ Question put and agreed to.