HL Deb 24 July 1973 vol 344 cc1764-5

[No. 2] Clause 1, page 1, line 22, leave out "and (ii)" and insert "to (iii)".

BARONESS YOUNG

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 2, which is consequential on the first Amendment.

Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(Baroness Young.)

LORD ZUCKERMAN

My Lords, I do not wish to detain your Lordships' House, but may I ask the noble Baroness a question which I could also ask on the next Amendment? Clause 1(1)(a)(iii) refers to "commissioning or support" of research as part of the functions of the new Council, and on the next page reference is made to the powers of the Council. My question relates to the reconciliation of "functions" and "powers", I having read the Explanatory and Financial Memorandum. There, paragraph 4 refers to the "functions" and not to the "powers". I wonder if the noble Baroness could tell us whether that is an oversight.

BARONESS YOUNG

If I have understood the question of the noble Lord, Lord Zuckerman, correctly, he is asking the difference between the expression "functions" in subsection (1) and the expression "powers" in subsection (4). Is that the right question?

LORD ZUCKERMAN

The answer to the noble Baroness's question, my Lords, is that the functions talk about "the commissioning or support"; the powers talk about initiating and carrying out, et cetera; and the Explanatory and Financial Memorandum refers not to powers but to functions. I was wondering whether this was merely an oversight. There seems to be an inconsistency here.

BARONESS YOUNG

I do not think there is any inconsistency, my Lords. My understanding is that under Clause 1(4)(b) the Council will be able to initiate and carry out research in relation to this additional function—that is, the one to which I have just referred—as it is appropriate that they themselves should carry it out instead of commissioning or supporting other persons. I hope this makes it clear.