HC Deb 26 July 1963 vol 681 cc2016-8

Lords Amendment: In page 63, leave out lines 3 and 4.

Mr. Whitelaw

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

This Amendment deletes the definition of "young persons" from Clause 88, since it has now been inserted into Clause 18 by an earlier Amendment to which the House has agreed.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 63, line 26, leave out from "Act" to end of line 27 and insert: any such person as follows shall be taken to be employed, namely,—

  1. (a) a person appointed under section 6 or 7 of the Registration Service Act 1953 who exercises and performs his powers and duties in premises provided and maintained 2017 by the council within whose area his district or sub-district is situate;
  2. (b) a person elected under section 8 of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1854 who exercises his functions in premises provided and maintained by a local authority;
  3. (c) a member of a police force maintained by a police authority".

Mr. Whitelaw

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

The purpose of this Amendment is to extend the protection of this Bill to persons familiarly known as registrars of births, deaths and marriages. Hon. Members who served on the Standing Committee which considered this Bill may recall that the position of registrars in relation to this Bill was raised by the hon. Member for Lewisham, South (Mr. C. Johnson) and I then undertook to examine the matter further.

While staff employed by local authorities are covered by this Bill, superintendent registrars and registrars are not employed under a contract of service and they are not covered by the definition of "employed" in Clause 88(1). This Amendment deems those registrars who perform their duties in premises provided and maintained by a county council or local authority to be "employed" for the purposes of this Bill, and so has the effect of bringing them into its scope. The reference in the Amendment to a member of a police force maintained by a police authority is merely consequential on the way in which Clause 88(4) has been redrafted and does not make any change in the application of the Bill to the police.

Mr. Prentice

This Amendment meets a point which was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, South (Mr. C. Johnson), who is unable to be present. I wish to thank the Govern- ment for accepting the Amendment. In passing, may I say that this is an example of the many Amendments designed to improve the Bill which have resulted from the vigilance of my hon. Friends, and for that the Government should be grateful.

If I am not too much out of order in doing so, may I congratulate the Parliamentary Secretary and the Minister on the way in which they have gone through all the Amendments without once losing their place; and may I also congratulate Mr. Deputy-Speaker and Mr. Speaker on not having lost their places, either.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 63, line 28, after "premises" insert "rooms".

Mr. Whitelaw

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

This Amendment is consequential on the decision to give power to grant exemptions in respect of classes of rooms as well as classes of premises. The House has already agreed to the main Amendment which affected Clause 45. The effect of the present Amendment is to provide that the definition of a class of rooms may be framed by reference to any circumstances whatever.

Question put and agreed to.