§ Lords amendment: No. 5, before Clause 47, insert the following new clause:
§ "C. In section 7 of the Local Government (Development and Finance) (Scotland) Act 1964 (which empowers a local authority to make an advance for the erection of a building on land sold, feued or let by them)—
- (a) for subsection (1) there shall be substituted the following subsection—
- "(1) Where a local authority are satisfied that it would be for the benefit or improvement of their area they may, subject to the provisions of this section advance money to any person for the purpose of enabling him either—
- (a) to acquire any land; or
- (b) to erect any building or carry out any work on land."; and
- (b) for subsection (3) there shall be substituted the following subsection—
- "(3) The amount of the principal of an advance shall not exceed nine-tenths of—
- (a) where the advance is made under subsection (1)(a) above, the value of the land; or
- (b) where the advance is made under subsection (1)(b) above, the value which it is estimated will be the value of the land on the completion of the building, or as the case may be works,
in respect of which the advance is made.".
§ Mr. Allan StewartI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bernard Weatherill)With this it will be convenient to take Lords amendment No. 6.
§ Mr. StewartLords amendment No. 5 is a straightforward amendment designed to bring the loan-making power of Scottish local authorities up to that recently agreed for their counterparts in England. Lords amendment No. 6 was introduced on Report in another place in response to requests from the Opposition and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. It will make it clear to local authorities that section 83 can be used to assist financially persons carrying on industrial and commercial undertakings. It will clarify the fact that the limit on total expenditure incurred under the provision in any financial year is the product of a rate of 2p in the pound calculated net of certain items specified in the amendment.
§ Mr. MillanI do not follow the grouping of the amendments. Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 seem to have nothing in common. I thought that the Minister had passed to amendment No. 7 at the end of his remarks.
Amendment No. 5 is useful and we welcome it. We also welcome amendment No. 6 which deals with fire escapes. That is another matter that was drawn to the Government's attention by the Scottish Council for the Single Homeless. I understood that amendments Nos. 12 to 15 related to amendment No. 6 and not amendment No. 7. Amendment No. 12 mentions fire escapes and, presumably, is related to amendment No. 6.
I do not mind whether the Minister explains amendment No. 13, which is incomprehensible, now or in the next 1186 group of amendments with which it has nothing in common. When I first read amendment No. 13 it appeared to be full of misprints. I have read it several times more and it still appears to be full of misprints. Perhaps the Minister will clarify it in due course.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerA point of order was not raised, but it is a matter for the Government to group the amendments.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendment No. 6 agreed to.