ISSUE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION NOTICE

HC Deb 18 June 1975 vol 893 cc1596-7

Amendment made: No. 66, in page 36, line 22 at end insert— '(b) a contravention of section (discriminatory practices), and (c) a contravention of section 35, 36 or 37, and'.—[Mr. John Fraser.]

Dr. Summerskill

I beg to move Amendment No. 67, in page 36, line 29, leave out 'issue' and insert 'in the prescribed manner serve on him'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker

We shall take at the same time Amendment No. 70, in page 36, line 37, leave out 'issue' and insert 'serve'.

Dr. Summerskill

These are technical amendments. Amendment No. 67 requires that a non-discrimination notice is not merely issued but is served on the person to whom it is addressed. It also provides, by means of the words "in the prescribed manner", that the procedure to be followed in serving a notice shall be one which shall be set out in regulations made by the Secretary of State by statutory instrument. Amendment No. 70 will make the consequential amendment in Clause 61(3)(a).

Amendment agreed to.

Dr. Summerskill

I beg to move Amendment No. 68, in page 36, line 33, after 'arrangements', insert

1. '(i) to inform the Commission that he has effected those changes and what those changes are, and
2. (ii)'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. George Thomas)

With this we may discuss Government Amendments Nos. 69 and 71.

Dr. Summerskill

The purpose of Amendment No. 68 is to encourage compliance with the requirements of a nondiscrimination notice to cease committing unlawful acts and to facilitate the monitoring by the commission of that compliance. The amendment does so by enabling it to include in the notice a requirement that the recipient should inform the commission of the changes he has made in his practices or arrangements so as to comply with the Bill. We believe that to include this requirement among those which a non-discrimination notice may contain will constitute a useful addition to the commission's powers. Amendment No. 69 further refines the proposal in Amendment No. 68.

I turn to subsection (2B), which Amendment No. 69 would insert. This subsection is designed to ensure that the liability of the recipient of a non-discrimination notice to furnish information to the commission does not extend beyond the time—namely, five years from the date on which the notice became final—when he would cease to be liable to a follow-up investigation under Clause 63. Amendment No. 71 is consequential on Amendment No. 69.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendments made: No. 69, in page 36, line 35, leave out from 'of' to end of line 36 and insert: 'affording that information to other persons concerned.

• (2A) A non-discrimination notice may also require the person on whom it is served to furnish the Commission with such other information as may be reasonably required by the notice in order to verify that the notice has been complied with.
• (2B) The notice may specify the time at which, and the manner and form in which, any information is to be furnished to the Commission, but the time at which any information is to be furnished in compliance with the notice shall not be later than five years after the notice has become final.'.

No. 70, in page 36, line 37, leave out 'issue' and insert 'serve'.

No. 71, in page 37, line 12, after (3)(b)', insert '(2A) and (2B)'.—[Mr. John Fraser.]