HC Deb 26 June 1967 vol 749 cc38-9

Order for Second Reading read.

11.53 a.m.

The Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Bruce Millan)

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

This is a pure consolidation Measure and I commend it to the House.

Mr. Graham Page (Crosby)

I apologise again that the hon. Gentleman cannot get this Measure "on the nod". This is a consolidation Bill relating to a section of law in Scotland and we are always faced in this House with the problem that some of our Bills relate to Scotland only, some to England and Wales only, and some to the United Kingdom. I would like to ask the hon. Gentleman whether it is a policy on consolidation to extract from United Kingdom laws the law relating to Scotland and to consolidate that separately, because it presents difficulties in form, as we see in this Bill.

I wish only to refer to the form resulting from this type of consolidation and not to the merits of the Bill in any way. I call attention to Schedule 3, which becomes a Schedule by reason of Clause 21, which says: The enactments mentioned in Schedule 3 to this Act so far as relating to Scotland are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule. It is clear enough there that one is dealing only with this in so far as it relates to Scotland.

But not everyone will take the precaution of reading that Clause first. They will turn merely to the repeal Schedule. It is true that there is a marginal note there referring back to Clause 21, but within the Schedule itself one comes across these items: The Legal Aid Act 1960. Against that, in the next column, are the words, "The whole Act". Later comes: The Legal Aid Act 1964 and against that, in the next column, are also the words: "The whole Act."

I must say that, if I had turned to the Bill and read that Schedule, I would have understood from those words that the whole of both of those Acts were being repealed. I do not think that I should quickly have thought of turning to Clause 21, thus seeing that they are, in fact, being repealed in relation to Scotland. Surely a form could be used within the Schedule itself, even if it is a matter of repeating words which appear in the text of the Bill, to warn the reader against this, to show that the extent of the repeal is the whole Act in so far as it relates to Scotland.

I acknowledge that this would be repetition but what we are always doing in consolidation Bills, I understood, is to make the law convenient for reference, to combine it in one Statute so that it is convenient to the practitioner and has clarity and certainty. We should, therefore, try even at the expense of spending a few more words, to make it clear that, when a Schedule says that the whole of an Act is repealed, and the Bill we are talking about relates only to Scotland, these limiting words should be placed against that item in the Schedule.

11.56 a.m.

Mr. Millan

I think that as careful and assiduous a reader of legislation as the hon. Gentleman is not likely to be misled by the terms of the Schedule, but I take the point he has made that perhaps on future occasions the draftng might be improved in that respect. I myself believe that the drafting is adequate here, but perhaps in subsequent instances, where we are consolidating Scottish bits of United Kingdom legislation, it might be looked at by those responsible. I shall certainly draw what the hon. Gentleman has said to their attention.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

Bill committed to a Committee of the whole House.—[Mr. McBride.]

Committee Tomorrow.