HC Deb 01 November 1965 vol 718 cc788-9

Lords Amendment No. 17: In page 14, line 19, after "the" insert "Minister with the consent of the".

Mr. MacColl

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

In the Bill as it left the Commons the provision was that the remuneration allowances should be at scales approved by the Treasury. Paragraph 7 of Schedule 2 provides, however, in this form—that the Minister, with the consent of the Treasury, fixes them. It seems tidier to have the same principle here. It does not alter the fact that the Treasury will have to approve the scales, but it does leave the Minister responsible for fixing them.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords Amendment: In page 14, line 26, after "shall" insert "allocate or".

Mr. MacColl

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

It would be convenient to discuss at the same time the next Lords Amendment, in page 14, line 27, after "and" insert shall confer on the clerk the duty". In some registration areas, where there are several rent officers, each may have responsibility for keeping a register in a sub-area. Normally, the responsibility would be on the clerk of the authority to allocate the work between rent officers, but there may be cases of this kind where there will be a scheme divided in several areas, where it may be easier and quicker to do it in the scheme, and this simply provides for the alternative, to enable that course to be adopted.

Question put and agreed to.

Subsequent Lords Amendment agreed to.

Lords Amendment No. 20: In page 14, line 35, at end insert: 'and for the purposes of the National Insurance Act 1965 and the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1965 they shall be deemed to be in that employment under a contract of service".

Mr. MacColl

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

The problem is here that the rent officers will not be employed by local authorities. They will be statutory officers. Therefore, special provision has to be made about their insurance and their industrial injury benefits. This can be done by Regulations made by the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance, and the original idea was that that was how it would be done. However, as we want to get rent officers appointed as quickly as possible, it may be quicker to do it in this way in this Bill. It will save the necessity of waiting for the Regulations to be made by the Minister, and it will safeguard the rent officers from any difficulties about their insurance position.

Question put and agreed to.

Subsequent Lords Amendment agreed to.