TRANSITIONAL MODIFICATIONS OF PART I FOR PERSONS OF SPECIFIED AGES (Hansard, 9 June 1969)

Mr. Deputy Speaker
The next Amendment selected is Government Amendment No. 92, with which we may discuss Government Amendments Nos. 93 and 94.

§ Mr. Elystan Morgan
I beg to move Amendment No. 92, in page 32, line 34, leave out from 'specify' to 'to' in line 35 and insert: 'an authority shall, without prejudice to subsection (2) of section 9 of this Act, not be required by virtue of subsection (1) of that section'. In Committee, on 17th April, my hon. Friend the Member for Rowley Regis and Tipton (Mr. Archer) pointed out that during the transitional period Clause 31(3) relieved the local authority, in areas where there were local arrangements for probation officers to make home surroundings inquiries, of any duty to make investigations and provide information on home surroundings placed on them by virtue of Clause 9.
Clause 9(1) deals with inquiries before a court appearance. Subsection (2), however, places on the local authority a duty to provide information requested by the court; that is, after the process before the court has begun. By relieving the local authority of its duty under subsection (2) as well as under subsection (1), Clause 31(3) enables the authority, in the words of my hon. Friend, to give a blank refusal to the court if the court should ask for its help. Of course, in practice no local authority would be likely to do any such thing. Amendment No. 92, however, clarifies the position by making it clear that the local authority is relieved of its duty under subsection (1) of Clause 9 but not of its duty under subsection (2).
Amendment No. 94 is a consequential drafting Amendment.

§ Mr. Elystan Morgan
I beg to move Amendment No. 97, in page 33, line 10, at end insert: 'and, in the case of an order of which the effect is that the reference to a child in section 4 of this Act includes a child who has attained an age of more than twelve, shall not be made unless the draft has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament'. The principle of the Amendment was accepted in Standing Committee on 1st May. It was generally agreed in the Committee that Clause 4 was right in relation to children aged 10 and 11, and an assurance was given by the Government that in the first instance Clause 4 would be brought into operation only up to the twelfth birthday. Concern was, however, expressed on the Opposition side about the application of Clause 4 to children aged 12 and 13, and the object of the Amendment which was accepted in principle was to ensure that this could not be done without a positive decision of each House of Parliament.
The effect of the Amendment is that a draft Order raising the age in Clause 4 above the twelfth birthday, whether it be to 13 or to 12½—although it is likely that it would move up in stages of only one year—will be subject to affirmative Resolution procedure instead of negative Resolution procedure.

§ Mr. Worsley
We very much appreciate the Amendment, as we said in Committee. We regard it as of very considerable importance that the two Houses should have time to consider all the issues involved, the facilities available, the manner in which the new procedure works, and so on, before any further change is made. In view of this, I gratefully accept the Amendment.