HC Deb 24 July 2000 vol 354 c865

Lords amendment: No. 16, in page 13, line 1, leave out from ("2") to second ("are") in line 2

Miss Melanie Johnson

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

Mr. Deputy Speaker

With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments Nos. 19, 20 to 22, 24 and 25.

Miss Johnson

These are technical and drafting amendments. Unless an hon. Member has a question, I shall say no more about them.

Mr. Letwin

I regret to say that I have a question. Amendment No. 19 in this group mentions "unstamped vouchers" in connection with section 37 of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, and states that they shall cease to have effect. I do not understand. A brief look at the relevant statute did not clarify matters. Will the Minister explain?

Miss Johnson

Amendments Nos. 16 and 19 belong together. Section 37 of the 1866 Act is utterly obsolete. It has been included in the list of repeals in schedule 2 since the first draft of the Bill. However, uniquely among the provisions repealed by the Bill, the repeal of this provision was not, prior to the amendments, formally set out elsewhere in the Bill. Instead, reliance was placed on a phrase in clause 27 that the repeals included enactments that are no longer of practical utility. It was decided that for the sake of consistency, section 37 of the 1866 Act should be repealed explicitly, and that is done by amendment No. 19. That means that the phrase in clause 27 about enactments that are no longer of practical utility becomes redundant, as no repeals in the Bill are now dependent on it. It can therefore be deleted, which is done by amendment No. 16.