§ Lords amendment: No. 1, in page 2, line 34, leave out from beginning to ("and") in line 39
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§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security (Angela Eagle)I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael J. Martin)With this we may discuss Lords amendments Nos. 2 to 14, 64 to 66, 68 to 72, 78, 79 and 84.
I remind the House that privilege is involved in Lords amendments Nos. 17, 18, 26 and 39. If the House agrees to any of those, I shall ensure that the appropriate entry is made in the Journal.
§ Angela EagleThis is a large group of minor amendments and I do not intend to speak to each one in turn, although if hon. Members have specific points on the detail, I shall be happy to try to deal with them. The amendments are technical and are necessary to ensure that the Bill, as drafted, achieves what is intended. They make a number of minor improvements or clarifications to the text or remove unnecessary duplication.
Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 avoid duplication by removing unnecessary definitions. Amendments Nos. 8, 9 and 11, relating to the new civil penalty of disqualification from holding a driving licence, are necessary because of changes currently being made to the Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973.
The group of amendments relating to clauses 16 and 17 contains technical changes to remove duplication in the Bill as currently drafted. Amendment No. 69 is a technical amendment intended to put the intention of the Bill beyond doubt in relation to the means by which a non-resident parent must meet his child support liability.
§ Lords amendment agreed to.
§ Lords amendments Nos. 2 to 14 agreed to.