HC Deb 08 May 1967 vol 746 cc1013-6

Order for Second Reading read.

12.23 p.m.

The Solicitor-General (Sir Dingle Foot)

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

There is one matter to which I would like to refer in connection with this Bill. Like the other two which we have approved, it is pure consolidation, but there is a matter to which I would invite the attention of the House. The Joint Committee, which considers all Consolidation Bills, sometimes has before it the draftmen's notes on Clauses. On an earlier occasion, I think when the last batch of Consolidation Bills was dealt with in this House, the hon. Gentleman the Member for Crosby (Mr. Graham Page), observed that sometimes it was extremely difficult for hon. Members to follow the Minutes of Evidence in the absence of the draftsmen's notes.

On one or two occasions I have shared the difficulty. On 12th April last the Joint Select Committee considered this Bill. The chairman, Lord Upjohn, announced that the Committee had de- cided that in future the draftsmen's notes on Clauses should be made available to those Members who were anxious to see them, in this House, in the reference room in the Library, and in the other place in the Printed Papers Office. This will enable hon. Members to follow the evidence in a more detailed way.

I am sure that the whole House will welcome this announcement, which I hope will be for the convenience of those hon. Members—a select band—who, with unfailing diligence, seek to acquaint themselves with the details of consolidation Bills.

12.25 p.m.

Mr. Graham Page (Crosby)

I am extremely pleased to find that some benefit to this House has resulted from our previous discussion on consolidation Bills, and that it is now possible to read the Minutes of Evidence of the Joint Select Committee on Consolidation Bills intelligibly, because one has the draftsmen's notes in the Library. Previously, it was extremely difficult to follow them. As I suggested, I would have liked to have had the note bound up with the Minutes, so that we could read it with them. I have been able to obtain a copy of the notes from the Library, and to study it alongside the Minutes.

This is a consolidation Bill which the Parliamentary draftsman, both before the Committee and in his note to the Committee, describes as straightforward consolidation. He goes on to raise the most complicated point about the interpretation of the reference to the Industrial Injuries Commission. Having followed that up, I could not see any difficulty in it. I thought that the draftsman was absolutely right, and that there was no difficulty.

There is one point which should go on record, particularly in connection with the Report. The Report which the Committee made to the House is that it had made certain Amendments to Clauses 14 and 15 and the Schedule to the Bill, and that the effect of these Amendments: … will be to reproduce the law as it will exist on the assumption that the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) (Amendment) Bill at present before Parliament will receive the Royal Assent in its present form before the Industrial Injuries and Diseases (Old Cases) Bill. That is to say, it assumed that a Bill proceeding to the two Houses at present will receive the Royal Assent before the consolidation Bill receives that Assent.

I understand that the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) (Amendment) Bill has received a Third Reading in another place without Amendment, and one can therefore assume that it is properly consolidated in this Bill, so long as someone is careful to see that that Bill gets the Royal Assent before this Measure.

There are these points which then arise in connection with the present Bill. I notice that in the Schedule to the Bill, against the 1967 Act, there is a blank Chapter. When do we insert that? I trust in Committee, when the Bill is committed to a Committee of the whole House. Secondly, the Schedule repeals only part of the 1967 Act, and I wonder what happens to the rest. In connection with that there is Clause 16(3), which provides that the consolidation Act shall come into force on such a day as the Minister may by Order made by Statutory Instrument appoint.

This is a little unsatisfactory to this House, because we shall have no control over the date on which this Bill takes effect. I rather doubt whether we need that Clause at all now that the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) (Amendment) Bill has received its Third Reading in another place, and is likely to receive the Royal Assent very shortly.

Although I said that the point taken by the Parliamentary draftsman did not seem to be an obstacle to this consolidation, I must comment on Clause I, which seems almost intelligible as a consolidation Clause.

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Eric Fletcher)

I do not think that that would be in order on Second Reading.

Mr. Page

Let me put it this way. Clause I refers to Statutes repealed by the Schedule to this Consolidation Bill, which means that anyone reading the Bill will have to refer to a repealed Statute. I understand that once it is repealed, Her Majesty's Stationery Office does not continue to print a Statute. It is difficult to know how anyone reading this consolidation Bill will understand and apply it, when it refers, not only in Clause I, but in several other Clauses, to Bills which have been repealed.

In this case when one refers to the Schedule the very first item is the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act, 1946. The Schedule to that Act is repealed. We refer to Clause 1 and find that we must refer to the Schedule in future in order to understand Clause 1. This seems to be a most unsatisfactory form of consolidation, when reference is made to Statutes which will no longer be printed. I hope that the hon. and learned Gentleman will look at this before the next stage of the Bill.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

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

Committee tomorrow.