Mr. Edward TaylorI beg to move Amendment No. 7, in page 4, line 39, leave out subsection (4) and insert:
(4) No scheme shall be made under this section unless a draft has been laid before Parliament and has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.Would it be possible to consider this with Amendment No. 9, in page 5, Clause 9, leave out lines 38 and 39 and insert:(2) No regulations shall be made under section 2(2)(c), 2(3), 4(2), or 5(2) of this Act unless a draft has been laid before Parliament and has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.(3) A statutory instrument whereby the power conferred by section 7(2) of this Act is exercised shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerIf that would be agreeable to the House.
Mr. TaylorThis Amendment follows the undertaking which I gave after a great deal of discussion in Committee to the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock, (Mr. Ross) that the affirmative Resolution procedure would be adopted for the 1229 schemes of distribution of endowment income made under Clause 6 and for most of the Regulations made under the Bill. Negative Resolution procedure is being retained only in respect to administrative Regulations made under Clause 7(2).
On Amendment No. 9, the undertaking which provides for affirmative Resolution procedure for the main Regulations was given at column 162 of the OFFICIAL REPORT of the Standing Committee on 26th November, 1970, when the right hon. Member pointed out fairly that the reasons for making the procedure negative or affirmative were those of Parliamentary time. He suggested that these matters should be subject to affirmative procedure and on reflection we feel that the right hon. Gentleman was correct, so the House will have an opportunity of considering the Regulations when they are introduced.
§ Mr. RossThis is an important Amendment and I am grateful to the Government. Involved here is the distribution to every single regional hospital board area in respect of the hospitals of Scotland. If anything merited affirmative Resolution procedure it was this. I have argued both for and against affirmative Resolution procedure in the past, and when I was Secretary of State I usually said "No, we cannot have that", but in this case I am glad that we have got a measure of agreement. I am sure this will equally please the hon. Member for Edinburgh, South (Mr. Clark Hutchison), because he has a personal interest, which I share as a Member of Parliament, about what happens to well-endowed boards of management under the new scheme.
Equally, of course, I have considerable interests in those hospitals which are not at all well endowed but which merit a greater share in the past generosity of people who left money to various hospitals. I do not except that there will be a great deal of trouble but this procedure will give us further opportunities to see what is happening and what still needs to be done. It will also give us the opportunity, which we will be glad to take, to remind people that there is still a place for private generosity towards our hospitals, and for that alone, it will be worth while.
1230 I want to pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen, North (Mr. Robert Hughes) for the amount of work he put into the Bill, having been a member of a regional hospital board. The Bill has benefited from his attentions.
§ Mr. Michael Clark Hutchison (Edinburgh, South)I agree with the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross) and I am glad that the Government have introduced the Amendment. In agreeing the schemes and drawing them up, will my hon. Friend be sure to contact the hospital authorities in each case and to listen to their views with great care? Is he seeing now or in the near future the authorities who run the Infirmary in Edinburgh, because I think that they have some doubts about the Bill? I should be grateful if he would listen to their advice.
Mr. Edward TaylorIndeed I do accept the great importance of consultation on such matters. This was one of the main reasons why it was thought in the Committee generally appropriate that we should have the affirmative Resolution procedure in this way. It means that, in the absence of what was regarded as full consultation, a full opportunity would be available in the House for full discussion of such matters.
My hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, South (Mr. Clark Hutchison) rightly drew my attention to some of the fears of another hospital board. I have had the opportunity to meet the board following an approach he made, and I hope that the explanations I gave at that time were satisfactory. I attach great importance to consultation and I feel that the Amendments introduce a further safeguard in this connection.
§ Amendment agreed to