HC Deb 25 March 1986 vol 94 cc918-9

Lords amendment No. 15, in page 4, line 13, at end insert— (5) The Secretary of State may by order pros ide that subsection (1) does not apply to publicity or expenditure of a prescribed description. (6) Before making an order the Secretary of State shall consult such associations of local authorities as appear to him to be concerned and any local authority with whom consultation appears to him to be desirable. (7) An order shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

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Mr. Straw

I beg to move, as an amendment to the Lords amendment,

(a) line 5, after 'Before', insert 'the coming into force of this section and before'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker

With this we will also discuss sub-amendment (b) in line 5, after 'order', insert 'under subsection (5) above'.

Mr. Straw

The Secretary of State is empowered by the amendment to provide by order that subsection (1), which is the principal provision of the clause, shall not apply to publicity or expenditure of a prescribed description. Before making an order, the Secretary of State is required to consult local authority associations.

We seek by the sub-amendments to widen the scope of that consultation so as to require the Secretary of State to consult before the coming into force of the clause as a whole, on such matters as the need to keep separate accounts of expenditure on publicity. The principle of consultation by the Department in general is accepted. Considering that the clause has serious ramifications for local authorities, it would be sensible to have prior consultation about the clause as a whole rather than just about orders which provide for exemptions.

Mrs. Rumbold

The amendment received wide support in the other place. The sub-amendments draw attention to the fact that we could theoretically introduce a requirement to keep a wide-ranging publicity account without making exclusions from that requirement and without consulting the local authority associations. We have no intention of acting in such a way. It would, clearly, not be sensible to bring clause 5 into effect until the scope of the account was finally determined. I urge the House to accept my undertaking that we shall engage in a full process of consultation before introducing an order proposing exclusions of publicity or expenditure under clause 11 or bringing clause 5 into effect.

Mr. Straw

In the light of the Minister's remarks, I will not press the sub-amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Lords amendment No. 15 agreed to.

Lords amendment No. 16 agreed to.

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