§ 6.30 p.m.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Gerald Kaufman)I beg to move Amendment No. 1, in page 2, line 4, leave out from 'applied' to end of line 6 and insert:
'the district auditor shall certify the sum which and the persons whom he surcharged in respect of it'.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. George Thomas)With this Amendment we may discuss the following Amendments:
No. 2, in page 2, line 4, leave and from 'certificate' to end of line 6 and insert:
'shall be issued by the district auditors certifying the amount of such loss of rent and the persons whom he has surcharged in respect of the said loss'.No. 4, in page 2, line 8, leave out from 'or' to second subsection in line 9.We may also discuss Government Amendment No. 3.
§ Mr. KaufmanWe introduce these Amendments in response to an Opposition amendment on similar lines suggested in Committee, which I undertook to consider. We are grateful for having had our attention drawn to possible obscurities in these subsections as originally drafted. We are satisfied that these amendments entirely clarify the points made in Committee.
The only point of difference between the effect of these amendments and those put down by the Opposition in Committee is that we have not thought it necessary 522 to impose a time limit on the issue of a rent loss certificate by the district auditor. Both the district auditor and the council will be eager to close the accounts, and we are quite satisfied that they will move speedily without the need for a set limit.
§ Mr. PercivalThe Government are being remarkably obstinate in relation to most important parts of this Bill. I am very glad to see that they have accepted the sense of doing this, and I appreciate the Minister's generosity in drawing attention to the fact. We are happy to see it and shall not press our own amendment. That comment applies also to Government Amendment No. 3.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Amendment made: No. 3, in page 2, line 8, leave out from '(2)' to '(3)' in line 9 and insert 'or'.—[Mr. Kaufman.]