SHORT TITLE, CITATION, APPLICATION, COMMENCEMENT AND EXTENT (Hansard, 30 July 1974)

§ Mr. Allason
I beg to move Amendment No. 34, in page 10, line 17, leave out 'two weeks' and insert 'one month'.
As it stands, the Bill is to come into effect two weeks after the Royal Assent, but it cannot be printed and it will be difficult for the public to discover what it is all about. There have been no printed copies of the OFFICIAL REPORT. All this would be bad enough with a simple Bill, but with a complicated measure like this it is far worse. It is difficult to determine the effects of the Bill because it is principally legislation by reference. Whole sections of the Rent Act are amended and people will find great difficulty in reading those amendments into the Act.
We have debated the Bill for 45 hours and so far there has been no filibustering. We have given the Bill careful consideration. Perhaps the Government will say how many new rules will have to be made before the Bill takes effect. New Clause 12 contains a requirement for statutory instruments to be laid and, presumably, since that clause was produced only two or three days ago the drafting of the instruments will not be far advanced.
We discussed in Committee instructions to rent officers and various other matters which we were told were not far advanced. It will be interesting to know how well prepared we shall be 14 days from tomorrow. The Minister promised that there would be explanatory leaflets. I hope that there will also be newspaper advertisements. I do not know how many issues of the Solicitors Journal will be required to explain the effects of the Bill. A great many solicitors do not follow the deliberations of this House, but instead wait to see what they want to know in the Solicitors Journal.
Some of the provisions being drafted now to take effect in the fairly near future could include the question of retirement homes, winter lettings, and the solicitor will suddenly find that from two weeks' time he will have to put a clause into an agreement. If the landlord is to be 695 protected that does not give him much time. We are asking for a period that is essential in order to give those who must operate the legislation a chance to understand what it is all about.

§ Mr. Lawrence
It is a matter of common fairness to all parties that those affected by the Bill should have a reasonable opportunity to digest it and take the necessary steps to protect themselves or deal effectively with it. The social contract does not yet seem to have spread to printing copies of the Bill. Many people will have gone away on holiday and may well not be back until the middle of August.
The original period in the Bill was one month. I ask that those who drafted the Bill, who must have had good reason for inserting that period, should bring their reasoning powers to bear and restore it.

§ Mr. Freeson
It is true that we originally intended the Bill to come into force one month after the Royal Assent. However, we were impressed by the criticism generally, and in particular in another place, that a delay of a month would be unnecessarily long and would place tenants who are under threat of imminent eviction in greater jeopardy. Therefore, by a Government amendment in another place, we reduced the interval between Royal Assent and implementation of the Act to a fortnight.
That period will give the Government time to mount a vigorous publicity campaign to explain the effects of the Bill and ensure that both landlords and tenants know exactly where they stand under the law. We are aiming to have newspaper and television advertising in the period leading up to and immediately after the commencement date of the Bill.
To extend the interval would be unacceptable. The Bill is urgent. An essential part of its purpose is to protect those tenants who are at this moment in danger of losing their homes. I would not wish to have to explain to them that the Bill came too late to help them, if we extended the interval as suggested. It has been suggested that a fortnight is not long enough for a Bill as complicated as this to become known. If the problems are as serious as the Opposition suggest, two weeks will not resolve 696 them. It is a complicated Bill but it is also urgent.
1.45 a.m.
A full-scale publicity campaign, arrangements for which are already in hand, will be set in motion the moment the Bill receives the Royal Assent, and this will ensure that no one is taken unawares, despite the printing experiences, which are bound to have repercussions on the circulation of the Bill. The campaign can be supplemented by additional publicity measures as and when necessary.
I intend to issue, as soon as practicable, an up-to-date version of the publication produced some years ago in the wake of the original Rent Act, called, "Your Rent and You". It will incorporate the changes made by the Bill and circulate information about it and the Rent Acts generally in a form which will be easily understood. The Government cannot accept further delay. The sooner we get the Bill into operation to protect those it is intended to protect, the better for all concerned.

§ Mr. Graham Page
The hon. Gentleman did not answer the question about the statutory instruments which require to be made under the Bill. Is he sure he will be able to publish them by the time the Bill comes into operation? It needs to be supplemented by orders. Can he assure us that a copy of the Bill will be available to the public? I know that the situation is difficult but we managed it in Parliament over the past weeks. It is even more important to see that the administrators, landlords and tenants know what is in the Bill.
Yesterday, the House passed a Northern Ireland order without the parent Bill being available, even in duplicate. No hon. Member could have known by referring to any document whether the statutory instrument was being validly made or not. Such a situation could arise with regard to this Bill. We could have statutory instruments being made when copies of the Bill are not available.
But that may not be quite as important as having a copy of the Bill available to the public before it comes into operation. I appreciate that the Minister wants the Bill in operation as quickly as possible, but I want an assurance that somehow or other he will have copies available to the public, who have to know about it.

§ Mr. Freeson
I understand that the statutory instruments are not required to be issued within the two weeks—or month—between the Royal Assent and the coming into force of the measure. We are all aware of the printing difficulties that the Government and Parliament have been experiencing. I shall do all I can to get copies of the Bill to places where it is important that it should be available. The most important thing for me is to ensure that there is adequate, clear and general publicity and information about the essentials of the Bill. This situation is not peculiar to this Bill. I shall do my best to get details of the Bill in its final published form to areas where it is most important to get the Bill as soon as possible after it has received the Royal Assent.

§ Mr. Walter Clegg (North Fylde)
What will be the position of someone who suffers because what will then be the Act is not available?

§ Mr. Freeson
The hon. Member is so well aware of the legal position that that was almost a rhetorical question. I have undertaken to do my best in the difficult circumstances in which we are all operating. This situation applies to other measures going through the House and also having important issues of legal interpretation.

§ Mr. Clegg
May I press the Minister on this issue? He says that he is doing his best, but surely that is not enough. Has there even been a situation when a Bill has been passed by Parliament but subsequently not been available to the public? If so, I should very much like to hear when it was.

§ Mr. Freeson
I beg to move Amendment No. 46, in page 10, line 19, leave out '5, 6 and 7' and insert: '(Advance application for registration of new rent) (1) and (2), 5, 6, 7 (Rent allowances and (Power of court in action for possession to reduce period of notice to quit) (1) and (2)'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we are to take Amendment No. 47.

§ Mr. Freeson
These amendments are consequential upon the introduction of the provision on the advance application of rent or rent allowances and the power of the court to reduce the period of notice 698 to quit, a subject with which we dealt earlier this evening.