(1) This section applies where— (a) the Nature Conservancy Council offer to enter into an agreement under section 16 of the 1949 Act or section 15 of the 1968 Act providing for the making by them of payments to—(b) the relevant authority offer to enter into a management agreement providing for the making by them of payments to a person whose application for a farm capital grant has been refused in consequence of an objection by the authority. (2) Subject to subsection (3), the said payments shall be of such amounts as may be determined by the offeror in accordance with guidance given by the Ministers. (3) If the offeree so requires within one month of receiving the offer, the determination of those amounts shall be referred to an arbitrator to be appointed, in default of agreement, by the Secretary of State; and where the amounts determined by the arbitrator exceed those determined by the offeror, the offeror shall—
- (i) a person who has given notice under section 28(3) or 29(4); or
- (ii) a person whose application for farm capital grant has been refused in consequence of an objection by the Council; or
(4) In this section— "farm capital grant" means a grant under a scheme made under section 29 of the Agriculture Act 1970; "management agreement" and "the relevant authority" have the same meanings as in section (Duties of agriculture Ministers) but propose the following amendment thereto: No. 19, in subsection (3), line 3, after "arbitrator" insert "(or, in Scotland, an arbiter)"
- (a) amend the offer so as to give effect to the arbitrator's determination; or
- (b) except in the case of an offer made to a person whose application for a farm capital grant has been refused in consequence of an objection by the offeror, withdraw the offer.
§ Mr. Macfarlane: *I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.**
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker: *With this we may take Lords amendment No. 20.**
§ Mr. Macfarlane: *These are small, technical, amendments which are necessary in deference to Scots law.**
§ Mr. Dalyell: *This is the appropriate time to ask a question of which I gave notice to the Minister and about which he kindly wrote to me. It relates to the subject of Scots law.**
§ *There was a report in The Observer under the name of Mr. Lane about the suppression of a report by the University of Edinburgh on matters relating to the Wildlife and Countryside Bill. Perhaps the Minister would like to comment, as he did in his letter, because I believe that he can explain the matter.**
§ Mr. Macfarlane: *I have no detailed comment to make. I have written to the hon. Gentleman. The report that appeared in the paper was not accurate. The representatives from the university who were credited with having generated the suppression in the first place refuted the issue as quickly as possible. That was the gist of the message that I gave the hon. Gentleman yesterday.**
§ Question put and agreed to.
1025Lords amendment No. 20 agreed to.