Clause 86. (Hansard, 22 May 1968)

§ Mr. Graham Page
I beg to move Amendment No. 155, in page 64, line 33, at end to add: 'and the Minister shall maintain a central register open for public inspection recording the dates upon which and the areas in respect of which the provisions of the Act shall have respectively come into operation'. This is to amend in particular the provision in the Clause which permits the Minister to bring this Bill into operation at various dates, to apply it to various parts of the country and to apply various Clauses at various times. We are not to have the Bill brought into operation at any one time nor at any one place. It is not to apply to the country as a whole. Certain Clauses and even certain repeals in the repeal Schedule will be brought in piecemeal.
It will, therefore, be difficult for the public to know what parts of the Act have been brought into operation and where they have been brought into operation. This Amendment suggests some sort of central register, to be kept by the Ministry, so that it will be convenient for people to search the register quickly and see what parts of the Act are in operation in what places.
It may well be, if a development is contemplated in some area, the quickest way to find out will be from some central register, instead of searching through stacks of Statutory Instruments bringing the Act into operation piecemeal. Can the Minister give us the assurance that there will be such a register maintained at the Ministry?

§ Mr. Skeffington
The Government think that this is a very helpful suggestion. For reasons which I need not go into now, we would like to re-draft the subsection, but in principle, we accept the idea.

§ Mr. Graham Page
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. If I understand this 789 to be an assurance to bring this in at a later stage, I would beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.