§ 11.50 p.m.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Nicholas Ridley)I beg to move Amendment No. 1, in page 3, line 33, leave out "master" and insert "installation manager".
I hope that it will be acceptable to the House if I suggest taking together all the Amendments dealing with the leaving out the word "master" and the insertion of "installation manager". They all arise out of an undertaking which I gave in Committee to reconsider the use of the word "master", and it was with the general agreement of the Committee that the words "installation manager" were suggested. I hope that the Amendments will find favour with the House.
§ Mr. Eric Ogden (Liverpool, West Derby)Certainly it is the view of this side that it will be for the convenience of the House to take all these Amendments together, and we are grateful to the hon. Gentleman for them. As he said, they fulfil his undertaking in Committee.
It was not that we objected to the word "master" as such, but that the use of the word in the Bill underlined the original intention of the draftsman that it was a piece of merchant navy legislation. It was the intention of both sides of the Committee to get away from the fact that it was a piece of merchant navy legislation and to make it clear that it was a piece of industrial legislation. The objections and difficulties came when we tried to find another word, and there 668 were some rather exotic suggestions about what should take its place.
The Minister gave careful consideration to this matter. We are grateful to him and to his colleagues not only for accepting this suggestion on its merits, but for bringing forward proposals which we suggested in Committee which were supported on both sides. We thank the hon. Gentleman for fulfilling his undertaking by bringing forward the proposals in this way.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Amendments made : No. 2, in page 3, line 38, leave out "master" and insert "installation manager".