CONSEQUENTIAL, TRANSITIONAL AND SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISION (Hansard, 17 July 1973)

§ Mr. Graham Page
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we shall take Lords Amendment No. 113, in Schedule 2, page 46, line 51, at end insert- 16A. A Statutory instrument containing an order altering the boundaries of a water authority area which is not subject to special parliamentary procedure shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

§ Mr. Page
This amendment provides that certain orders under the Bill may include the like provisions in relation to the orders that may be made by regulations of general application under Section 67 of the Local Government Act 1972. The orders we are dealing with here come under Clause 2(5) of the Bill altering the boundaries of a water authority's area and those made under the new clause providing for the Greater London Council to exercise recreational and amenity functions in and around greater London. The effect is to put such orders on the same footing as orders made under Part IV of the Local Government Act, the orders which alter the areas of local authorities.
It means that they may include provision with respect to the transfer, management and custody of property and the transfer of rights and liabilities, the functions or areas of jurisdiction in any public body, the transfer of local proceedings, and they may go so far as to extend, exclude, amend, repeal or revoke with or without savings, any provision of an Act or instrument made under an Act or charter.
This seems rather sweeping but it is a common form of provision, and an order may include such provision only to the extent that it is incidental or supplementary to or consequential upon the main purpose.
Lords Amendment No. 113 is on much the same lines. It provides for an order altering the boundaries of a water authority area to be subject to the negative resolution procedure in this House, if it is not already subject to special parliamentary procedure. We have provided that normally an order altering boundaries will have the special parliamentary procedure. It will go through the local inquiry stage, and then special parliamentary procedure follows in this House.
Normally there would be opportunity in either House of Parliament for an annulment of an order of that kind and an examination by a Joint Select Committee of both Houses in a manner similar to the Private Bill procedure. There can be occasions when, because objections are not sustained, an order of this kind may not be subject to parliamentary procedures. It may escape that altogether unless there is a sustained objection against the order. In that case, if it is one of those where the special parliamentary 447 procedure does not bite, this amendment will provide for a parliamentary procedure; namely, the negative procedure.

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Robert Grant-Ferris)
It has come to my notice that there is a possibility that the House may not wish to raise any further points on the remaining amendments. If this is so it would help the House materially.

§ Mr. Denis Howell
I do not want to stop any other hon. Member from taking part, but I see the hon. Member for Norfolk, South (Mr. John E. B. Hill) in his place. As far as the Opposition are concerned we have now raised the matters which specifically concerned us and we would be happy to co-operate with the Government and take the remainder of the amendments formally.

§ Mr. John E. B. Hill (Norfolk, South)
would like to say a word on Schedule 4.

§ Mr. Eldon Griffiths
I suggest that we deal formally with all the Lords Amendments between the position we have now reached and Schedule 4.