THE COMMISSION

HC Deb 05 May 1983 vol 42 cc496-7

Amendment made: No. 74, in page 36, line 25, at beginning insert— 'Subject to sub-paragraph (1B),'.

No. 75, in page 36, line 27, leave out from 'Crown' to end of line 30 and insert— '(1A) The members of the Commission and of their staff shall not be regarded as civil servants and the Commission's property shall not be regarded as property of, or held on behalf of, the Crown. (1B) In relation to any matter as respects which the Commission act by virtue of a direction under section 31(2), the Commission shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities and exemptions as those enjoyed in relation to that matter by the Secretary of State for the Environment.'. No. 76, in page 38, line 41, at end insert— '(7) An industrial tribunal shall not consider a complaint whereby a dispute mentioned in sub-paragraph (6) is referred to it unless the complaint is presented to the tribunal before the end of the period of 3 months beginning with the date of the offer of employment or within such further period as the tribunal considers reasonable in a case where it is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the complaint to be presented before the end of the period of 3 months. (8) An appeal shall lie to the Employment Appeal Tribunal on a question of law arising from any decision of, or arising in proceedings before, an industrial tribunal under this paragraph; and no appeal shall lie except to the Employment Appeal Tribunal from any decision of an industrial tribunal under this paragraph.'.—[Mr. Macfarlane.]

9.30 pm

Mr. Macfarlane

I beg to move amendment No. 77, in page 39, line 28, leave out from 'constitute' to second `of in line 30 and insert 'at least one committee to advise them on ancient monuments and at least one to advise them on historic buildings, and may constitute other committees to advise them on those or other aspects'. Those who took part in the debate in Committee will recall that this amendment tidies up the provision inserted, against my advice, in Committee requiring the commission to set up advisory committees. As promised, I have not sought to reverse that decision, but I believe that my amendment is needed to make the provision unambiguous and one that achieves the aims that I think the sponsors of the provision intended. It will require the commission to set up at least one committee on historic buildings and at least one on ancient monuments. Of course, it may set up more than that if it wants to do so, and I believe that that is what members of the Committee would want — for example, to have more specialist committees.

I think that all hon. Members will welcome this amendment, which I think is an improvement on what was tabled in Committee, and I hope that they will give it their support.

Dr. David Clark

May I say briefly how grateful I am to the Minister for not having sought to reverse the defeat in Committee. I concede that we may not have drafted the matter perfectly in Committee and that the Minister's drafting is better. However, I am glad that the Minister accepts our point of principle.

Mr. Cormack

I endorse what the hon. Gentleman has said. This is a repeat of the exercise that the hon. Member for Derby, North (Mr. Whitehead) and I had with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Arts a few moments ago.

Again, we are grateful to the Minister for having listened carefully to what we said and for tabling an amendment which entirely meets the point that was made very forcefully by all sides of the Committee.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendments made: No. 78, in page 40, line 27, after `shall', insert— '(a) be prepared within such period as the Secretary of State may direct; and (b)'.

No. 79, in page 40, line 32, after 'accounts', insert `(including any statement prepared under this paragraph)'.

No. 80, in page 40, line 33, leave out from 'State' to end of line 35.

No. 81, in page 41, line 3, after 'with', insert 'the second'.

No. 82, in page 41, line 11, after 'prepared', insert 'and audited'.—[Mr. Macfarlane.]