HC Deb 24 June 1980 vol 987 cc419-20
Mr. Brittan

I beg to move amendment No. 74, in page 12, line 22, after "specified", insert a summary of the complaint approved for the purpose by the Commission and".

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Richard Crawshaw)

With this it will be convenient to take Government amendments Nos. 75, 76 and 77.

Mr. Brittan

The purpose of amendments Nos. 74 and 75 is to amplify clause 12(1) so as to empower the commission to direct a broadcasting body to publish a summary of a complaint on which it has adjudicated, as well as its findings. It is in the public interest that the commission should be able to require the publication of details of the complaint as well as the conclusion reached. The amendments give it the express power to do so.

Amendments Nos. 76 and 77 fulfil the undertaking that I gave on clause 12 in Committee. Their object is to ensure that the outcome of every complaint in which the commission has jurisdiction is made publicly available. The new provisions augment the existing provisions of clause 12, under which, if the commission has adjudicated upon a complaint, it may direct the broadcasting body which broadcast the programme giving rise to the complaint to publish its findings, or a summary of them.

Mr. Whitehead

I rise simply to say that this series of amendments is to be welcomed. They meet the spirit of the discussions in Committee. If other complaints bodies, including the Police Complaints Board, were to go as deeply into the discussion of complaints we should be better off.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendments made: No. 75, in page 12, leave out line 24 and insert "so approved".

No. 76, in page 12, line 26, leave out "this section" and insert "subsection (1)".

No. 77, in page 12, line 26, at end insert—

  1. "(3) The Commission shall publish, at such intervals and in such manner as they think fit, reports each containing, as regards every complaint within this subsection dealt with by them in the period covered by the report, a summary of the complaint and of the action taken by them on it and, where they have adjudicated upon it, a summary of their findings.
  2. (4) A complaint made to the Commission is within subsection (3) unless it is one which they are precluded from entertaining by section 9(2) or 10(2).
  3. (5) The Commission may, if they think fit, omit from any summary included in a report under subsection (3) any information which could lead to the disclosure of the identity of any person connected with the complaint in question other than a broadcasting body or programme contractor.".—[Mr. Brittan.]

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