§ Mr. Harold WalkerI beg to move amendment No. 4, in page 6, line 25, leave out "one month" and insert "three months'.
I am sure that the House will recognise both the need for this amendment and the good sense of it. When the Bill was drafted, it was envisaged that its passage through Parliament might take six to eight weeks and that there would be a period for undertaking the preparatory work on the regulations and creating the necessary administrative organisation.
In the new circumstances, if the interval before the Bill comes into force is not extended, it will come into force weeks before either the regulations are ready to put before the House for approval or the administrative arrangements are completed. I am sure that the House will recognise that it makes sense to bring the legislation into force when we believe that we shall have the regulations and the administrative machinery ready and not have the nonsense of somebody saying "The Act is in force; I want to make a claim" and the Government having to say that Parliament has not approved the regulations.
We hope to have the regulations ready for the end of the three-month period and to lay them before Parliament. Therefore, we hope to be processing claims in the early autumn.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 9, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.