Schedule 2 (Hansard, 21 March 1973)

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

Mr. Deputy Speaker
It will be convenient to take also Lords Amendment No. 14, in page 24, line 28, leave out "sub-paragraph (2) above" and insert: any provision of this Schedule so specified and Lords Amendment No. 15, in page 24, line 42, leave out sub-paragraph (5) and insert: 2.—(1) Where an Agency approve proposals for an increase in accordance with an order under paragraph 1 above, the Agency shall not exercise their powers under Part II of this Act so as to restrict any price or charge, or any kind of remuneration, where the price or charge or remuneration is duly authorised by the approval. (2) In exercising their powers under an order under paragraph 1 above, an Agency may frame an approval of proposals for an increase in such way as appears to them appropriate for the purpose of ensuring that the provisions of the code are implemented. (3) acting under sub-paragraph (2) above an Agency may—

(a) attach any conditions to an approval, and

(b) limit or qualify an approval to allow for any change in circumstances, and

(c) limit the duration of an approval.

(4) An order under paragraph 1 above which provides that an Agency shall be deemed to have given their approval in any circumstances may impose any such conditions, limitations or qualifications as might have been imposed by the Agency under the preceding provisions of this paragraph.

§ Mr. Jenkin
This paragraph of the schedule seeks to reconcile two different objectives. First, where a consent has been given, the agency may not at any time thereafter restrict the price or the remuneration. Secondly, it must not put it out of its power, for instance, to enforce a price reduction if that is required by the code. We have had two or three bites at this cherry, and we believe that we now have it right. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Trade and Consumer Affairs moved an amendment on Report in this House which did not 617 entirely solve the problem. The amendment which I am asking the House to agree to does solve the problem.
The effect of the amendment moved and accepted in another place is to spell out the implications of paragraph 1(5) of the Second Schedule; namely, the attachment of conditions or qualifications to approvals and the limitation of the duration of approvals. As amended, the provision makes clear that the Price Commission will be able to attach sufficient conditions to any approval given to ensure that the price reduction requirements under the code can be fulfilled.
The new paragraph 2(4) deals directly with deemed approvals. We believe that by these amendments we have succeeded in reconciling these conflicting objectives, and I hope that the House will accept the amendments.

§ Mr. Brian Walden
The Chief Secretary is right in saying that there have been several bites at this cherry. To know whether these amendments fulfil the purpose he outlined would require a knowledge of parliamentary draftsmanship which I do not possess.
It is all bogus. The Price Commission will not operate in this way—I see the hon. Member for Oswestry (Mr. Biffen) nodding in agreement. The great majority of prices will not be supervised in this way. It is a sham, to enforce wage restraint.
If the Chief Secretary tells us that these amendments set out theoretical guidance for the Price Commission, I accept his word. We will not divide on it, but I am not prepared to allow this to go through with the country thinking that there will be a careful surveillance of prices. There will not be. The more the Opposition study the resources that the Government have made available to make operative their price restraint, the more convinced we are that they are wholly bogus, as the country will see when it assesses the price increases in six months' or a year's time.

§ Mr. Patrick Jenkin
I say with great sincerity that the hon. Member for Birmingham, All Saints (Mr. Brian Walden) is quite wrong. If I needed evidence of that, I would only need to recall the representations which have been made to the Government by the CBI and other 618 bodies. I was there when their representatives met my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. They at least do not regard the provisions relating to price reductions as bogus.