§
Lords amendment: No. 1, in page 2, line 31, leave out
such conditions as they think fit
and insert "conditions".
§ Mr. Peter Fraser: (South Angus)I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
The Bill returns to the House with remarkably few amendments to it. I hope that that is an indication that a considerable amount of work was done on the Bill while it was in the House before going to another place. I hope that it is also an indcation that it was acknowledged in another place that the Bill enjoys a wide measure of support in Scotland, it being based on the deliberations of a working party that was set up in 1979 to discuss amendments to countryside legislation in Scotland.
That working party consisted of members from the Countryside Commission for Scotland, local authorities in Scotland, the Scottish Landowners Federation, the Scottish Countryside Activities Council, and the National Farmers Union. All of the proposals have been brought together and have, with few exceptions, enjoyed the support of anyone who has any interest in the countryside in Scotland.
One of my hon. Friends representing a Scottish constituency was at one time minded to be a little difficult about the Bill. However, when I reminded him that one of the bodies supporting my proposals was the Scottish Ladies Mountaineering Club, faced with the daunting prospect of those elegant women he retreated as quickly as possible to his own constituency.
I should like to put in context what is provided for by the clause. It simply transfers the statutory power to pay a countryside grant to local authorities from the Secretary of State for Scotland to the Countryside Commission, and it repeals and re-enacts the power of the commission to give grants and make loans. This is nothing novel or extraordinary. It merely brings the practice in Scotland into line with statutory provisions that obtain in England and Wales.
Since 1 April 1979 the Countryside Commission for Scotland has acted as the Secretary of State's agent in disbursing grants to local authorities. Furthermore, it has already statutory responsibility for making grants to the private sector. Essentially, it is proposed that the clause should do nothing more than give statutory recognition to an existing practice. The effect of the amendment is to leave out
"such conditions as they think fit"
and insert "conditions". It is a drafting amendment to simplify the wording, without in any way altering the sense of the clause. The power to add "conditions" exists already.
2 pm
The amendment that was made in another place neither adds to nor detracts from what is provided. Possibly it adds nothing more than the school masterly antecedents of the 762 noble Lord who proposed the amendment and, who thought that if there were five words when one word would do, this legislature should prefer to use the one word.
§ Question put and agreed to.