§
Lords amendment: No. 3, in page 8, line 28, after "require" insert—
(6B) Where any enactment (other than this Act) requires, in whatever terms, a report to be prepared for any period as to the funded operations and sent to any person, or laid before Parliament, or both or so sent or laid by any time or times, an order may provide for that requirement to be treated as satisfied by preparing the report for the financial year and sending it to that person, or laying it before Parliament, or both, as the case may be, so sending or laying it by the time or times specified in the order.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.—[Mr. Ryder.]
§ Dr. MarekThere was a debate in the other place about whether the amendment should have been tabled. As far as both I and their Lordships were able to discover, it was tabled simply to take account of practices in the Patent Office.
I wonder whether an amendment could have been tabled simply for the Patent Office. I do not disagree with the Lords amendment, but a little information about it would be helpful. Is it just the Patent Office that is covered, or does the amendment cover other bodies?
§ Mr. RyderThe amendment is intended to deal with a problem which, so far as we know, is confined solely to the Patent Office. However, the amendment would cover any other similar problem. The Patent Office is required by the legislation to produce an annual report on a calendar-year basis. The intention underlying sections 4(6) and 4(6)(a) of the 1973 Act, as amended by the Bill, is that trading funds should be able to produce and publish combined annual reports and accounts. Since the Patent Office works on an April to March financial year, which it would be likely to retain if it were to become a trading fund, if it is to meet that requirement, the Patent Office will either have to change its financial year to the calendar year or publish two separate annual reports. The amendment solves the problem by making it possible for a report that is produced for a trading fund's financial year to be treated as satisfying any other statutory reporting requirements.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§
Lords amendment: No. 4, in page 9, line 11, at end insert—
(5) That Act, as amended by section 1 of this Act and this section, is set out in Schedule (Government Trading Funds Act 1973, as amended) to this Act.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.—[Mr. Ryder.]
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerWith this, it will be convenient to consider Lords amendment No. 5.
§ Dr. MarekThis is another technical amendment. However, I should like the Economic Secretary to put on record his assurance that that is the case—that the Government Trading Funds Act 1973, as amended, is being reprinted in the schedule to the Bill and that the amendments deal with purely consolidation matters.
This is a small Bill on which both the Government and the Opposition have collaborated to improve it. If the Economic Secretary can reassure me on that point, I believe that, together with the other amendments that have been made in both Houses, the Bill is now a better Bill.
§ Mr. RyderThe purpose of the amendments, however lengthy they may be, is extremely simple. The Bill amends the Government Trading Funds Act 1973. However, it is not easy to follow the final result simply by reading the Act and the Bill together. Therefore, we considered that it would help those who will use the legislation if the Bill reprinted the 1973 Act, as amended.
For the avoidance of any doubt, I should make it clear that the amendments make no change whatever to the text of the Bill. They reflect all the amendments that have been made to the Bill during its passage through both Houses, including Lords amendments Nos. 1 to 3, which have just been agreed to by the House.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his assistance in ensuring that the Bill has been improved. Both he and his noble Friend Lord Bruce of Donington gave us useful advice.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendment No. 5 agreed to.