ACTIVITIES AND POWERS OF THE CORPORATIONS (Hansard, 28 July 1976)

Mr. Les Hucklield
I beg to move Amendment No. 9, in page 5, line 32, after '1948)', insert: 'and section 200 of the Companies Act (Northern Ireland) 1960'.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this we may discuss Government Amendments Nos. 10, 116, 118 to 121, 130, 179, 180, 185, 187 and 195.

§ Mr. Huckfield
This group of amendments, is concerned largely with technical matters with relevance to Scottish law and the law in Northern Ireland. Because of the technical nature of the matter, I ask the leave of the House to move the amendment formally.

§ Mr. Les Huckfield
I beg to move Amendment No. 11, in page 6, line 18, leave out subsection (8).

§ Mr. Speaker
With this we may discuss Government Amendment No. 12.

§ Mr. Huckfield
We had a debate about this clause this afternoon, and after careful consideration we have accepted that the provision in Clause 3(6) and (8) to allow the Secretary of State to amend the corporation's powers by statutory instrument does not materially increase the element of flexibility, and we have therefore tabled these amendments to delete the two sections. The Secretary of State retains the power under Clause 2 to amend the duties of the corporation by Statutory Instrument. Under Clause 3(1)(b) the corporations, with the consent 796 of the Secretary of State, have the power to undertake new activities.
The provisions will introduce a substantial new element of flexibility into the operations of the corporations and into their relationship with the Secretary of State. This is not weakened by the amendments, and I urge hon. Members to accept them because they eliminate potential technical difficulties.