§ Order for Second Reading read
§ 10.1 p.m.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Law Officers' Department (Mr. Arthur Davidson)I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
The Bill enables the four consolidation Bills to which I have already referred to take their place on the statute book without their several transitional provisions, savings and repeals, to be set out in each Bill. This would have tended to overload the Bills with purely technical measures, and far from making it easier for the reader to understand, as is the purpose of consolidation legislation, may have made the reader's task much more difficult.
There are certain amendments to the Bill which are purely consequential on the late passing of the Social Security Benefits Act 1975, an uprating Act, on 13th March—last week. The amendments are purely drafting and reflect the law as it is at the moment.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill accordingly read a Second time.
§ Bill committed to a Committee of the whole House.—[Mr. John Ellis.]
§ Bill immediately considered in Committee.
§ [Mr. GEORGE THOMAS in the Chair]
§ The ChairmanThis again is a consolidation Bill, but in this case there are amendments to the schedules. I would propose first to put the Questions on the clauses together, since there are no amendments to them. Thereafter, I will call the Minister to speak on Schedule 1 to explain the amendments, which I understand are all consequential or drafting. Thereafter, if no one objects, I will put one Question on the schedules and the amendments together. This will save a considerable time, since otherwise nearly a quarter of an hour would be required to put the Questions on the separate amendments under separate schedules. However, I should make it plain that if there is a single objection to taking this course, I will put the 1594 Question separately on each amendment and on each schedule.
§ Clauses 1 to 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill
§ Schedule 1