Clause 29.—(FUNCTIONS OF, OR RELATING TO, QUARTER SESSIONS.) (Hansard, 30 April 1964)

§ Mr. Brooke
I beg to move, in page 24, line 12, after "accommodation" to insert: whether in the county or elsewhere". This is a drafting Amendment simply to make clear that accommodation provided by a county council for quarter sessions for the county may be located outside the county.

§ Mr. Brooke
I beg to move, in page 24, line 16, at the end to insert: and the functions of the county council under this subsection shall include the functions of managing, controlling and maintaining any such accommodation which by virtue of section 30 (3) of the Local Government Act 1888 were exercisable immediately before the commencement of this Act by the standing joint committee". 760 This Amendment is connected with the winding up of standing joint committees, and it simply makes clear that the function of managing, controlling and maintaining quarter sessions court houses is transferred to the county council. It is a clarifying Amendment.

§ Mr. Brooke
I beg to move, in page 24, line 28, at the end to insert: (6) The court of quarter sessions for a county where the offices of clerk of the county council and clerk of the peace are held by different persons shall appoint such officers (in addition to a deputy clerk of the peace) or provide such other assistance as they may, after consultation with the county council, determine to be necessary for the purpose of assisting the clerk of the peace in carrying out his duties as such, and—

(a) the salary and other terms and conditions of service of any officer appointed under this subsection and the terms on which other assistance is provided thereunder shall be such as may from time to time be determined by the court after consultation with the county council; and

(b) section 60 of the Local Government Act 1958 (transfer and compensation of officers) shall apply to officers affected by the fact of the clerk of the county council's becoming or, as the case may be, ceasing to be clerk of the peace for the county as it applies to officers affected by an order under Part II of that Act, subject, however, to the following modifications—

(i) a reference to the aforesaid fact shall be substituted for the reference in subsection (2) of that section to the provisions of any such order; and

(ii) the provisions mentioned in subsection (1) of that section shall, instead of being contained in any such order, be contained in regulations made by such Minister as may be determined by the Treasury to be appropriate in relation to the officers affected and those regulations shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(7) Section 8(7) and (8) of this Act shall apply to the following officers of a court of quarter sessions as they apply to officers of the court of quarter sessions for a London commission area, that is to say—

(a) a clerk of the peace who is not also clerk of the county council;

(b) a deputy clerk of the peace who does not fall within paragraph C of Part II of Schedule 2 to the Local Government Superannuation Act 1937;

(c) an officer appointed under subsection (6) of this section.

(8) The provisions of subsections (6) and (7) of this section, except such of those provisions as are adopted by a resolution of the county council, shall not apply to any county 761 for which provision for purposes corresponding to any of the purposes of those subsections is made by any local Act passed before, or in the same session as, this Act. (9) The following expenditure of a court of quarter sessions, that is to say,—

(a) any expenditure incurred by them in exercising their functions under subsection (5) of this section; and

(b) the sums payable by way of salary or expenses to officers appointed under subsection (6) of this section, together with any employer's contributions payable in respect of them under the National Insurance Acts 1946 to 1963, and any expenditure on any other assistance provided for the clerk of the peace under that subsection;

shall be defrayed by the county council. (10) If a county council are aggrieved—

(a) by the incurring of any expenditure by a court of quarter sessions in the exercise of their functions under subsection (5) of this section; or

(b) by any determination of a court of quarter sessions under subsection (6) of this section:

the council may appeal to the Secretary of State. I apologise for the length of the Amendment, but the circumstances are rather unusual. It is an Amendment to a new Clause which was introduced in Committee. As a result of the publicity thus given to the matter, the Government had representations, and it became clear that we ought to spell out the situation at rather greater length in order to cover a variety of cases which might arise.
Perhaps I need not trouble the House with a long explanation if I say that it is an Amendment which is entirely beneficial to the interests concerned and which, I believe, is generally acceptable to the local authority associations.
What we have done is to take the opportunity to provide a complete code for the employment and payment of subordinate staff of quarter sessions where a clerk of the peace is not the clerk to the county council. With the provisions for superannuation and protection of the interests of a separate clerk goes all the necessary provision for financing the expenditure.
The second purpose of the Amendment is to give the county council a say and to give it a right of appeal to the Secretary of State concerning any expenditure incurred by quarter sessions in discharging the residual functions of standing joint committees and also with 762 regard to decisions by quarter sessions under the new provision in subsection (6).

§ Mr. Brooke
I beg to move, in page 24, line 41, after "section", to insert "except subsections (6) to (8)".
The effect of the Amendment is to bring Clause 31 into force on the passing of the Bill. Clause 31 entitles justices of the peace and members of probation and case committees to subsistence allowances. In Committee, a new Clause was moved by the hon. Member for Goole (Mr. Jeger), who withdrew it on my undertaking that an Amendment which would accomplish his purpose rather more neatly would be put down at a later stage of the Bill. This is the Amendment, and I have little doubt that it will be generally welcome.

§ Mr. MacColl
I believe that this Amendment deals with a point for which I have been watching on a later Clause, Clause 41. I understood the Home Secretary to say that the Amendment dealt with the coming into force of subsistence allowances to justices. If so, will he explain exactly how it works?

§ Mr. Brooke
I must apologise to the House. I was getting confused and I was going on too far. I am afraid that I was addressing myself to a later Amendment. In fact, the Amendments in page 24, line 41, and in page 25, line 3, are both linked with the long Amendment which I moved earlier. I apologise that my words were addressed to a subsequent Amendment in Clause 41, page 29, line 31, to which we will come presently.