Clause 15 (Hansard, 3 April 1973)

§ The Solicitor-General
I beg to move Amendment No. 18, in page 13, line 18, leave out from 'with' to 'and' in line 22 and insert: 394 'then if he has incurred expenses on the employment of an interpreter for the proceedings on the information, he may apply to a magistrates' court for that area and the court shall order the payment out of central funds of the expenses properly so incurred by him'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this amendment we shall discuss Amendment No. 12, in line 18, leave out 'may' and insert 'shall', Amendment No. 13, in line 24, leave out 'may' and insert 'shall', and Government Amendment No. 19.

§ The Solicitor-General
Amendments Nos. 18 and 19, which were set down only yesterday, arise as a result of the amendments put down by the hon. Member for Hackney, Central (Mr. Clinton Davis). What he set out to achieve is quite acceptable to the Government and I am grateful to him for drawing it to our attention. The reasons why his amendments have not been selected are purely those of drafting.
The result of the Government amendments is exactly the same as the hon. Gentleman intended. In short, they say that not only where a case has been brought before the court and the defendant has appeared will he be entitled as a matter of right to any costs involved in the use of an interpreter, but that also on those occasions when the information has been laid but withdrawn before the court hears the case, or in similar circumstances at a Crown court, so that he does not appear, he may apply to those courts for any costs properly incurred in the use of an interpreter, subject to the proviso that applies in all cases that he must satisfy the court that his lack of English required that.
The Government amendments adopt and put into drafting terms the hon. Gentleman's proposals.

§ Mr. Clinton Davis
I am grateful to the Solicitor-General. He has made the point more clearly than my amendments could have done, and I am grateful to him.