Schedule.—(ENACTMENTS REPEALED.) (Hansard, 10 May 1967)

§ Mr. Graham Page
Hon. Members will see that in the last item in the first column of the Schedule there is a blank. We have now reached the last stage of the Bill's passage through this House at which any Amendment can be made. Who is to fill in the blank? The blank appears against the Short Title of the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) (Amendment) Act, 1967, and the reference is "1967 c." and then there is a blank.
This may be a very small matter, but it means that something will be printed in a Bill after it has received the Royal Assent which was not printed in the Bill when it passed through all its stages in the two Houses. We are left in the difficulty that we shall be asked to give a Third Reading to a Bill which contains a blank. Who is to fill the hole in the Government's bucket?

§ Mr. Kimball
This is a very important matter. The Solicitor-General ought to take the Bill away and wait until he is able to fill in the blank. I understand that the Government have the happy knowledge that they have plenty of time on morning sittings and it is therefore very wrong that they should present to the House a Bill which is not finished, which is not fully written out, when they could easily withdraw it and fill in the blank later in this Session of Parliament.
1457 We are being asked to agree to a Schedule which contains a table of derivations which is not even complete and the Solicitor-General ought not to ask for a Third Reading of the Bill until he has been able to fill that table. I hope that he will explain this position at length. This is exactly like being presented with a blank cheque and told, "We will finish the calculation if you just sign" The numbers, figures, dates and descriptions of the 1967 Act have not been filled in. I am reluctant to see a Bill go through incomplete like this.
I am delighted that the right hon. Lady the Minister of State for the Home Department is present, for she can tell the hon. and learned Gentleman that the Government have plenty of time in morning sittings. The hon. and learned Gentleman should withdraw the Bill and not ask for a Third Reading. My hon. Friends would not object if he did so and if he returned when he was able to fill in the whole table of derivations.

§ The Solicitor-General
The explanation is quite simple. The hon. Member for Gainsborough (Mr. Kimball) will see, if he looks again at the Schedule, that the reference where there is a blank is to the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) (Amendment) Act, 1967. That is a Measure which has passed through its various stages, but not yet received the Royal Assent. It is impossible to fill in the chapter number until the Royal Assent has been obtained. No one knows as yet what the number will be. That is the reason for the blank.
I would suggest that there is no room for an error here. It is merely a matter of filling in the number, and I find it difficult to believe that anyone will put in the wrong number.
It does not require any action by either House, because it is an addition which can be made as a printing correction. There is power to make printing corrections before Bills receive the Royal Assent. Such corrections are made by the Clerk of the Parliaments in the other place, and that is what will be done on this occasion.

§ Mr. Graham Page
This cannot possibly be a printing correction. It has been left blank deliberately, and a 1458 deliberate blank cannot be called a printing error which may be corrected by the Clerk of the Parliaments. It may seem to be a very small matter, but we know too well in this House that precedents are set by very small matters, and it may be that on some future occasion an important blank will be left. In this case, it is of some importance, and it cannot be passed over by calling it a matter for a printing correction. This cannot come within the Standing Orders allowing the Clerk of the Parliaments to make that correction.
May I ask when the Royal Assent is expected to the Bill? I can promise the hon. and learned Gentleman that, if he withholds the completion of this Committee stage and the Third Reading of the Bill until the Royal Assent has been given, we shall give it to him on the nod.
It is a very small matter of this sort which sets a precedent, and, on a future occasion, we may be told that, as this was allowed to go through as a printing correction, we must let something else go through in the same way. I protest strongly. I offer the hon. and learned Gentleman the opportunity that if, for example, there is any intention to have the Royal Assent to any Statutes today, the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) (Amendment) Act, 1967, can be included, and we shall give him the Third Reading on the nod. However, I am not inclined to allow a Bill of this kind to go forward with a blank in it.

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Sydney Irving)
Since a Division has been claimed, I am bound by paragraph 4 of the Sessional Order on Morning Sittings to declare that the proceedings on the Motion before the House on the Bill stand deferred until the end of business this evening.