CONTRIBUTIONS PAID IN ERROR (Hansard, 13 May 1998)

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

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this, it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments Nos. 67 to 70.

§ Mr. Denham
Amendments Nos. 66 to 69 will ensure that clause 53, which applies to contributions paid in error, is not applicable where the error has been 475 discovered and the contributions have been refunded to the contributor. The amendments also introduce drafting changes to improve the clarity of the clause. Those technical amendments do not impact on the purpose of the clause. Amendment No. 70 is a minor technical amendment to clause 56, which is designed to clarify the legislation. I commend the amendments to the House.

§ Mr. Waterson
I agree with the Minister that the amendments are largely technical. As he said, amendments Nos. 66 to 69 are purely technical and, as far as I can tell, ensure that the policy behind the clauses is what is delivered. They introduce references to "year 1", "year 2", and so on. Amendments to deal with where a mistake has been identified and a refund made in the relevant time limit are very sensible.
I should like to raise one or two questions. I hope that answering them will not detain the Minister long. Does he agree that the amendments, especially the reference to regulations on when the section will become effective, extend the Government's regulatory powers? Is he able to tell us today when the Government intend the sections to come into force? How does he think that the clauses and the amendments fit the Government's approach to back dating in other parts of the Bill, which we shall come to very shortly?

§ Mr. Denham
The reference to the coming into force of section 56 reflects the fact that different parts of the Act will come into force at different times. Some sections will come into force on Royal Assent, such as the provisions on restrictive covenants in clause 50. Other sections, including section 56, will be brought into force by way of a commencement order. Amendment No. 70 makes it clear that the period referred to in clause 56(7B)(8) is the period before section 56 is brought into force by way of a commencement order.