§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (Mr. James MacColl)I beg to move Amendment No. 23, in page 7, line 3, after "1961" insert "or that section".
The Amendment is designed to meet a point made by hon. Members opposite. It is a drafting Amendment to deal with the reconciliation of Section 21 of the 1961 Act and Orders made thereunder with straight Section 15 Orders. Both are necessary.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Mr. SpeakerWe come now to Amendment No. 24, which is to delete Clauses 13 to 16. With this Amendment I suggest that we should discuss the following Amendments: No. 28, in page 12, line 10, leave out subsection (3).
§ No. 36, in page 16, line 16, leave out from "Act" to end of line 19.
1728§ No. 43, in page 18, line 16, leave out subsection (2).
§ No. 84, in page 30, line 31, leave out "and not repaid".
§ No. 121, in page 46, line 35, leave out "6(4) or 14(1)" and insert "or 6(4)".
§ No. 122, in page 46, line 39, leave out from beginning to end of line 40.
§ No. 159, in page 67, line 1, leave out paragraph 6.
§ Mr. Graham Page (Crosby)On a point of order. It seems to me that Amendment No. 111, in page 42, line 10, at end insert:
'but where any such payment is made after the commencement of this Act, that payment shall be a charge on the property registered in favour of the local authority in the Land Charges Register and shall be set against any subsequent application for improvement grant by the person who is entitled to an interest in the house, where that person is not the same as the person to whom the payment was made'.could also come into this group.
§ Mr. SpeakerI am grateful for the suggestion. I must have missed that one. If there is no objection, so be it. We will add it to the list.
§ Mr. MacCollI beg to move Amendment No. 24, in page 8, line 16, leave out from beginning to end of line 36 on page 10.
This is an important Amendment, because it abandons the condition that a house must be kept for three years after a grant has been received in respect of it—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The consensus of opinion between the two Front Benches and the two sides of the House, I am reminded, ignores the fact that Amendment No. 111 is a Liberal Amendment.
§ Mr. SpeakerI would not include that Amendment in the group without approval from them, as they would expect their Amendment to come on much later. If they come in, we shall ask them. If they do not, we shall take the Liberal Amendment separately. I must be fair to minorities.
§ Mr. MacCollThe limit was originally 20 years, which was reduced to 10 and is now three. After careful consideration 1729 of all the facts my right hon. Friend came to the conclusion that it was just as well to get rid of it altogether.
In any case, as was pointed out by hon. Members opposite and my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, Central (Mr. Dunnett), we would have to do something about leasehold. In view of the increased importance attached to owner-occupation and encouraging property going into owner-occupation, it seems that the limit is not really necessary now. This is a substantial Amendment to the Bill, but it is a move in the right direction.
§ Mr. Peter Walker (Worcester)We on this side of the House approve all the Amendments. They are very sensible, and we only wish that the same principle had been applied when we last discussed the question of transferring grants on Report. But I am pleased that the Government have come to this conclusion, and we shall support the Amendment.
§ Amendment agreed to.