§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper. In doing so I have to declare an interest, in that I am directly affected by the provisions to which I refer.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government why the scheme of charges published by the Civil Aviation Authority on 9th September 1975 failed to make it clear that its introduction was dependent upon the agreement of Parliament to repeal part of the Civil Aviation Authority (Charges) Regulations 1972, which repeal had not been proposed at that time.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, DEPARTMENT of INDUSTRY (Lord Beswick)My Lords, the Authority made it clear when it first consulted the industry about its proposals for these schemes that they were intended to replace the existing statutory charges. The schemes made clear that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State had been consulted about them in accordance with the provisions of Section 9 of the Civil Aviation Act 1971, but reference to the possibility of Parliament choosing to annul the repealing instrument would hardly have been appropriate in the body of the schemes.
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. Is he not aware that at the time when the industry was consulted there was wide spread opposition to the proposals of the Authority? Furthermore, is it not the case that the consultations took place only with representatives of the major carriers, for all the small companies were 132 simply led to believe that they had no say at all in the matter?
§ Lord BESWICKMy Lords, I am sorry if the latter part of the noble Lord's supplementary question bears any resemblance to the facts. I am sure that that was not the intention of the Civil Aviation Authority, and I know that there has been a good deal of consultation. I think the time involved was ample. The documents went out on 22nd April while the schemes themselves were not published until 9th September, so there was ample opportunity.