§ 1.—(1) Any order under clause 9(2) of this Act shall be subject to a notice published:—
- (a) in the London Gazette, the Edinburgh Gazette, or both, according as the scheme affects England, Scotland, or both; and
- (b) in such local newspapers, and in such other ways, if any, as appear to the Minister best suited for bringing the notice to the attention of persons concerned,
§ Provided that the Minister shall not be required to consider any objection unless it comprises or there is submitted therewith a statement in writing setting out the specific grounds for any amendments, additions or modifications asked for, or any objection which in his opinion is frivolous.
§ (2) Any such objection as aforesaid nay ask for amendments, additions or modifier to or of the order which amount to amendments, additions or modifications to or of the scheme.
§ 2.—(1) If there are no objections which the Minister is required to consider, or if all such objections are withdrawn, the Minister may make the order either in the terms of the draft or subject to such amendments, additions or modifications, if any, as he thinks fit, being amendments, additions or modificatiors which in his opinion do not effect important alterations in the draft as published.
§ (2)Where any such objection is made and is not withdrawn, the Minister may cause in the case of a scheme under Part II of this Act, a public local inquiry, or, in any other case, an inquiry, to be held with respect thereto, and the Minister may, after considering the report of the person by whom the inquiry was held make the order either in the terms of the draft or subject to such amendments, additions or modifications as the Minister thinks fit.
§ (3)The amendments, additions or modifications referred to in this paragraph may amount to amendments, additions or modifications to or of the scheme.
§ 3. The Minister may, with the consent of the Treasury, pay out of moneys provided by Parliament to any person appointed to hold an inquiry for the purposes of this Schedule such fees and allowances, and to persons giving evidence such allowances, as he may with the consent of the Treasury determine."
§ The Commons disagreed to these Amendments for the following Reason:
§ [No. 35.]
§ Because they alter the financial arrangements made by the Commons; and the Commons do not offer any further Reason, trusting that this Reason may be deemed sufficient
§ LORD HUGHESMy Lords, I beg to move that this House doth no insist upon its Amendments Nos. 33 and 34. The House will remember that the effect of No. 33 would be to give the Minister power to order a public inquire if he 1491 thought fit to do so before designating a Passenger Transport Area. Amendment No. 34 would add to Schedule 5 a comprehensive set of provisions governing the procedure for such an inquiry. I may say that it gives a different criterion for the circumstances in which an inquiry is to be held; for example, by widening the scope of objection beyond local authorities, which is all the Amendment to Clause 9 mentions. So these two Amendments are not quite consistent, and if left in they would leave the law in a state of confusion.
The Commons disagreed to these Amendments on the grounds that they were unnecessary. Amendment No. 34 also infringes Commons privilege in referring, in paragraph 3, to the provision of funds for the conduct of the inquiry. Clause 153(1) already empowers the Minister to hold an inquiry for the purposes of any of his functions under the Bill, except those in Part V (headed "Regulation of Carriage of Goods by Road.). This provision would allow the Minister to hold a public or a private inquiry. But in practice I can give an assurance that any inquiry which the Minister decided to hold before designating a Passenger Transport Area would be virtually certain to be a public inquiry. In giving this assurance the Government are going further than this Amendment, which is by itself simply an enabling power and would not oblige the Minister to hold an inquiry.
The Amendment would also require the circulation to all the local authorities concerned of a draft of the proposed Designation Order. It is the Minister's intention to acquaint all these local authorities beforehand with the regulations it would be proposed to include in the Designation Order, so that this matter also would be covered in practice.
Schedule 5, Part III, details the various subjects with which the Designation Order would be concerned, apart from the proposed Area and representation. The procedure set out in the Amendment to Schedule 5 was taken almost word for word from the Transport Act 1947. Since then, a great deal of experience has been gained in the running of public inquiries, and the Minister may be relied on to conduct such an inquiry with full propriety in the light of 1492 the individual circumstances without requiring the procedure to be set out.
§ Moved, That this House doth not insist on its Amendments Nos. 33 and 34 to which the Commons have disagreed. —(Lord Hughes.)
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, in this case the Commons have seen fit to stand, as they are perfectly entitled to do, on the technicality of their financial privilege. The noble Lord has been good enough to add some of the reasons which the Commons did not give, and among them we are very glad to hear him say that, in effect, the Government are conceding what we really asked for here, in that where the Minister judges it to be appropriate an inquiry will be held into the setting up of a Passenger Transport Authority. That being so, my Lords, while regretting the Reason that the Commons have given (which did not seem to show very great imagination, if I may say so), we would not dissent from the Commons on these Amendments.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.