DISQUALIFICATIONS FOR ELECTION AND HOLDING OFFICE AS MEMBER OF LOCAL AUTHORITY (Hansard, 24 October 1972)

§ Mr. Speed

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

This is a technical Amendment to remove a slight lacuna in Clause 80(1)(c). Under the present law relating to audit in Part X of the Local Government Act, 1933 a person who is surcharged for an amount exceeding £500 is disqualified from being a member of a local authority for five years.

New audit arrangements are being introduced by the Bill and disqualification may still follow where a member has been responsible for authorising unlawful expenditure or has been responsible for loss as a result of wilful misconduct. The new audit arrangements do not come into operation immediately; they will not apply until the financial year 1974–75.

It is necessary to preserve the effectiveness of any disqualification where this results from a surcharge under the 1933, a person who is surcharged for an fication period—or any unexpired portion of it—applies after the new audit arrangements have come into force.

Clause 80(1)(c) is aimed at this point but does not do the job completely satisfactorily. It prevents a person from standing as a member of a local authority if he has been surcharged for a sum 1041 exceeding £500 before the date of the election but it does not cover the person who has been elected to a local authority before the new audit arrangements come into force but who may still be surcharged under the 1933 Act after his election. This could possibly happen in connection with the audit of accounts for 1973–74 which will not be completed until after the elections for the new authorities which will take place in April, May and June of 1973. The effect of the Amendment is to plug this small gap.