§
Lords amendment: No. 13, in page 3, line 38, at end insert—
("(e) may be granted subject to such conditions as may be specified.")
§ Mr. RaynsfordI beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerWith this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments Nos. 14 to 25, 30, 32, 33 and 133 to 140.
§ Mr. RaynsfordYou will be relieved to know, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that this is the last group that I shall be presenting.
1025 This group of amendments concerns regulatory and licence-related matters, as well as the transfer schemes. The amendments are largely technical, and the bulk of the group—Lords amendments Nos. 16 to 21, which concern the powers of the Competition Commission to veto licence modifications proposed by the CAA—is merely bringing our Bill into closer alignment with other utility legislation.
Lords amendment No. 15 is important because it allows the CAA to relieve the licensee of his clause 8 duty in respect of services that he is not providing. NATS, which will be the licensee, will not be the sole provider of services in licensed airspace, and it would be unduly onerous if NATS were to be bound by statutory duties for services provided by others. That is the purpose of Lords amendment No. 15.
Lords amendment No. 30 seeks to clarify and strengthen the objective of clause 48(3), which reaffirms the Government's commitment to the two-centre strategy for the development of air traffic control. Lords amendments Nos. 133 to 140 provide clarification to the drafting of paragraph 25 of schedule 6—it contains detailed provisions on transfer scheme arrangements—and make consequential amendments to schedule 7, which deals with taxation matters and transfers.
Lords amendments Nos. 32 and 33 provide a definition of the term "Northern Ireland Minister" for the purposes of the transfer scheme provisions.
§ Lords amendment agreed to.
§ Lords amendments Nos. 14 to 26, 30, and 32 to 67 agreed to.