§ 5.4 p.m.
§ Report of Amendments received (according to Order).
§ Clause 3 [Rating of Gas Council and other gas authorities]:
§
THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD CHAMPION)moved, after subsection (10) to insert:
( ) In this section, in its application to England and Wales, expressions used in the Rating and Valuation Act 1925 have the same meanings as they have for the purposes of that Act and, in its application to Scotland, expressions used in the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956 have the same meanings as in the said Act of 1956.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, this Amendment is designed to meet a point that was raised on the Committee stage by my noble friend Lord Wise. The point of his Amendment at that time was that it should be made clear on the face of the Bill that the word "rate" in Clause 3 does not include drainage rates. I then explained why the Government considered the Amendment unnecessary, but to meet the concern felt by the noble Lord, Lord Wise, and other noble Lords, that the meaning of the clause should be made more easily ascertainable I promised to consider it. This Amendment carries out the promise I then made.
§ The Amendment which Lord Wise moved in Committee, by expressly excluding drainage rates, would have given rise to the unfortunate implication that other forms of special rates which are not treated as rates for the purposes of the Rating Acts were not excluded from the ambit of Clause 3. It follows that we ought to make it clear that "rates" has the same meaning as in the Rating Acts. But—and this is always the difficulty of the amateur Parliamentary draftsman: and, indeed, one of the difficulties of the Parliamentary draftsman—this remedy itself leads to a further complication. If the Amendment were confined to the word "rates" it would raise the implication that other rating expressions used in the clause—for example "valuation list" and "hereditament"—did not have the normal rating meaning. The Amendment therefore adopts the solution of giving rating expressions used in the clause the meanings which they have in the Rating Acts.
§ We are confident that this meets the purpose of Lord Wise's Amendment since, in both the Acts referred to in the Amendment, the definition of "rate" specifically excludes drainage rates. I hope that this is clear. I must admit that I had to give it some thought before I was absolutely satisfied about it. But I am now satisfied, and I therefore beg to move this Amendment.
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Amendment moved—
Page 5, line 18, at end insert the said subsection—(Lord Champion.)
§ LORD WISEMy Lords, I must thank my noble friend for this Amendment. It 1053 shows that he bears a good deal of good will, and the strength and success of a Minister can be measured by his willingness to accede to reasonable requests and representations. The Minister has done this, and I thank him. There is one point on which one would like to be clear, and that is the meaning of the word "rate" in the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925. If I may do so, I think I can make it perfectly clear, for the Record, exactly what we have arrived at.
According to the 1925 Act:
'Rate' means a rate the proceeds of which are applicable to local purposes of a public nature and which is leviable on the basis of an assessment in respect of the yearly value of property, and includes any sum which, though obtained in the first instance by a precept, certificate or other instrument requiring payment from some authority or officer, is or can be ultimately raised out of a rate as before defined, but does not include—(a) any rate which is assesed under any commission of sewers, or in respect of any drainage, wall, embankment, or other work for the benefit of the land …Then the definition goes on to include other rates which have not been levied by the local authorities. For the Record, I think that this matter has been properly dealt with by the Minister.
§ LORD ERROLL OF HALEMy Lords, on behalf of noble Lords on this side I should like to thank the noble Lord, Lord Champion, for his very clear exposition of this point. Having studied the matter himself so carefully, he has put it to us with his customary clarity.
§ LORD CHAMPIONMy Lords, I am grateful to those who have welcomed this Amendment. I would say to my noble friend that I will try hard to live up to the standard which he has now set for me. I thank him, too, for relieving me of the task of reading this part of the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925. I did look it up, and I studied it very carefully, and found that it also referred to what was called a "square rate". I had some little difficulty with that term: I thought that it had to do with not being "with it", but I then found that it had to do with London squares and the rest. If one attempted to consolidate into a section of this sort everything that might apply we should have written almost a completely new Bill.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
1054§ Clause 4 [Storage authorisation orders]:
§ LORD CHAMPIONMy Lords, this is a drafting Amendment. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 7, line 17, at end insert ("and Part IV of that Schedule shall have effect for the purpose of adapting the other provisions of that Schedule in their application to Scotland ")—(Lord Champion.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 18 [Discontinuance of an underground gas storage]:
§ LORD CHAMPIONMy Lords, this, too, is a drafting Amendment designed to remove an ambiguity from subsection (1). I do not think it is necessary for me to go into this now and explain it at great length. It is really a drafting Amendment. I beg to move.
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Amendment moved—
Page 22, line 37, leave out from ("Minister") to ("be") in line 38 and insert ("necessary in the interests of safety that an underground gas storage should")—(Lord Champion.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 25 [Application to the Crown]:
§ LORD CHAMPIONMy Lords, this is a drafting Amendment. I beg to move.
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Amendment moved—
Page 28, line 22, leave out ("of Power").—(Lord Champion.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ Clause 27 [Registration in local land charges register and General Register of Sasines]:
§ LORD CHAMPIONMy Lords, the next three Amendments are drafting Amendments. They have the same intent. I beg to move the first of these Amendments.
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Amendment moved—
Page 30, line 19, leave out ("local land charges register") and insert ("register of local land charges").—(Lord Champion.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
§ LORD CHAMPIONMy Lords, I beg to move the next Amendment.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 30, line 21, leave out ("local land charges register") and insert ("register of local land charges").—(Lord Champion.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.
1055§ LORD CHAMPIONMy Lords, I beg to move the last Amendment.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 30, line 22, leave out ("local land charges register") and insert ("register of local land charges").—(Lord Champion.)
§ LORD ERROLL OF HALEMy Lords, could we not on this occasion have an explanation?
§ LORD CHAMPIONYes, my Lords. What I have on my Paper here asks me to refer back to a note which applies to the first thing I mentioned—namely, that these are three drafting Amendments which could conveniently be taken together; their purpose is to provide that the same description is used throughout the Bill for the same register. I hope that this explanation will satisfy the noble Lord, who seems to be doubtful on the point.
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.