COMMENCEMENT (Hansard, 25 March 1980)

§ Mr. St. John-Stevas

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

1375 The purpose of the amendment is to delete the provision for a commencement order. Therefore, the Bill will come into effect automatically on receiving the Royal Assent.

When this Bill was originally introduced we were not sure whether it would move so rapidly that it would receive Royal Assent well before 31 March or so slowly that it would not receive Royal Assent until much later.

Despite the thorough discussion that has taken place on the Bill in this House and another place, we are now on course to receive the Royal Assent on 31 March, as planned.

The procedure involved with the commencement order is now no more than an unnecessary complication, which could delay the establishment of a fund and the transfer of acceptance in lieu to the departmental Ministers. Removing this clause means that the Bill's provisions will come into effect automatically on Royal Assent.

I thank the hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell) for standing in on this occasion for his hon. Friend the Member for Warley, East (Mr. Faulds), whom we wish a speedy recovery. I pay 1376 tribute to the hon. Member for Warley, East for his services to this Bill and to the hon. Member for West Lothian, who has made such a valuable contribution.

§ Mr. Dalyell

I thank the Leader of the House. The Opposition are glad that this Bill is on course. We realised that by having a very thorough discussion we might delay it in a way that most of us did not want.

I pay tribute to the understanding and great care that has been taken throughout the passage of the Bill by the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment —the hon. Member for Dumfries (Mr. Monro)—who has been very accommodating. If the discussion was thorough it was certainly eased greatly by the attitude of the Minister, who bore the brunt of the Committee stage. He was invariably courteous and helpful. We were also greatly pleased by the attitude of many of the civil servants who helped us and who are obviously as keen to protect the heritage of this country as any of the politicians.