§ The Under-Secretary of State for Development, Scottish Office (Mr. George Younger)I beg to move Amendment No. 83, in page 35, line 34, at end insert:
'(3) Where an action has been brought against an officer of a local authority in respect of an act done by him in the execution or purported execution of any enactment and the circumstances are such that he is not legally entitled to require the authority to indemnify him, the authority may nevertheless indemnify him against the whole or a part of any damages or expenses which he may have been ordered to pay or may have incurred if they are satisfied that he honestly believed that the act complained of was within the scope of his employment and that his duty under the enactment required or entitled him to do it'.In Committee, I undertook, when we considered an amendment to Clause 56 moved by the hon. Member for Greenock (Dr. Dickson Mabon), to table an amendment on the lines of Section 103(2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947 to afford protection to an officer of a local authority acting in good faith but beyond the proper scope of his duty.That section contains two parts, the first protecting an officer against any consequences of carrying out an action on behalf of the authority in the event of proceedings being taken against him personally. This is regarded as unnecessary in view of the general arrangements for delegation in Clause 56. The omission of the second part of that section was not intentional; it was not desired to remove an authority's power to grant protection for an officer who might, in good faith, overstep the bounds of his delegated authority. The amendment is brought forward in the light of that undertaking.
§ Amendment agreed to.