HC Deb 29 October 1985 vol 84 cc939-41

Lords amendment: No. 134, in page 61, line 32, leave out from "service" to "until" in line 33.

Mr. Ancram

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

Mr. Speaker

With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendment No. 135, in page 61, line 35, at end insert— Reference below in this Part of this Act to a council operating a bus undertaking are references to any council to whom this subsection applies.

Mr. Ancram

The amendments are solely technical and unless the House wishes me to do so I do not believe that they need be further explained.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords amendment No. 135 agreed to.

Lords amendment: No. 136, in clause 62, page 62, line 30, leave out "to" and insert (according to the context) to— (i)

Mr. David Mitchell

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

Mr. Speaker

With this it will be convenient to take the following Lords amendments:

No. 137, in clause 62, page 62, line 35, at end insert (ii) "; or all property of the council used or appropriated for use and all rights and liabilities of the council subsisting for the purposes of any such activities.".

No. 139, in clause 63, page 63, line 15, leave out subsection (3) and insert— (3) Subject to subsections (3A) and (3B) below, a council's bus undertaking shall be regarded for the purposes of this Part of this Act as forming part of a joint undertaking if the services for the carriage of passengers by road provided in the course of the activities of the council's bus undertaking are wholly or mainly provided under any agreement for—

  1. (a) the provision or operation of those services by a body acting on the joint behalf of that council and one or more other councils; or
  2. (b) the operation of those services by any company operating those services in conjunction with services for the carriage of passengers by road provided by that company.
(3A) Subsection (3)(a) above only applies where the agreement provides for the distribution among the parties on its termination of—
  1. (a) all assets, or the proceeds of all assets, used or appropriated for use for the purpose of providing services for the carriage of passengers by road under the agreement; or
  2. (b) all such assets or proceeds excluding only land or the proceeds of disposal of land.
 (3B) Subsection (3)(b) above only applies where—
  1. (a) the agreement includes provision for securing that the parties on termination of the agreement hold shares of equal value in assets required to be brought into account on termination of the agreement; and
  2. (b) those assets include all assets so used or appropriated for use."

No. 140, in clause 63, page 63, line 35, leave out "or arrangements".

No. 141, in clause 64, page 64, line 7, leave out "or arrangements as are" and insert "as is".

No. 143, in clause 65, page 65, line 16, leave out from beginning to end of line 17 and insert In any case within section 63(3)(a) of this Act both or all the councils participating in the joint undertaking may".

No. 145, in clause 65 page 65, leave out "or arrangements".

No. 146, in clause 65, page 66, line 11, leave out from "case" to second "the" in line 13 and insert within section 63(3)(b) of this Act".

No. 147, in clause 65, page 66, line 14, leave out "that party" and insert the company carrying on the joint undertaking".

No. 148, in clause 65, page 66, line 16, at end insert "by the council concerned".

No. 149, in clause 65, page 66, line 24, after first "of' insert— (i) all property rights and liabilities of the body carrying on that undertaking; and (ii) ".

No. 150, in clause 65, page 66, line 43, leave out from "and" to "share" in line 1 on page 67 and insert , in any case within section 63(3)(b) of this Act, for the transfer to the company carrying on the joint undertaking of any property, rights and liabilities of the council concerned which are comprised in that company's".

No. 151, in clause 65, page 67, line 5, leave out any joint body established for the purposes of" and insert "the body carrying on".

No. 152, in clause 65, page 67, line 20, at beginning insert in any case within section 63(3)(a) of this Act,".

No. 153, in clause 65, page 67, line 20, leave out any joint body established for the purposes of" and insert "the body carrying on".

No. 154, in clause 65, page 67, leave out lines 22 to 27.

No. 157, in clause 68, page 70, line 12, leave out councils to whom section 63(1) of this Act applies and insert such councils as are referred to in subsection (2) above".

No. 188, in clause 71, page 74, line 41, leave out "person" and insert "council".

No. 212, in clause 79, page 82, line 7, leave out "(3) and".

Mr. David Mitchell

The purpose of this group of amendments, voluminous though it is, is to clarify the meaning of "joint undertaking". Some bus undertakings exist under agreements giving rights over assets to more than one council, and would have fallen outside the definition of "joint undertaking" as originally drafted. Transfers by order under clause 65 would not have applied. It would, however, be inappropriate for the property rights and liabilities of those undertakings to be transferred under the scheme which makes provisions that apply to other district councils, since the parties might not be able to reach agreement about the allocation of property and other assets and the order - making procedure would be needed to settle matters. The amendments make it clear that in cases of that sort the undertakings fall within the definition of "joint undertaking", and are therefore subject to the order making process. We have also clarified that public transport companies can be formed as joint companies under the provisions only by two or more councils.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords amendments Nos. 137 to 141 agreed to.

Forward to