§
1 Clause 6, page 8, line 36, at end insert—
(5A) If in the special circumstances of any particular case the Secretary of State thinks fit, he may treat subsection (1) as if the reference to five years after commencement were a reference to eight years after commencement, but shall not do so unless the person to whom the application relates would have been entitled to be registered under that subsection on an application made immediately before the end of the five years after commencement.
§ The Commons agreed to the above amendment with the following amendments:
§ 2 Line 4, at beginning insert ("(a)")
§
3 Line 5, after ("commencement") insert ("or
(b) where subsection (5B) applies, as if the reference to five years front the date on which the person to whom the application relates attains full age were a reference to eight years from that date")
§ 4 Line 5, after ("so") insert ("in the case of an application based on paragraph (b) of subsection (1)")
§ 5 Line 7, after ("application") insert ("so based")
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 en bloc to the Lords Amendment No.1, and with permission I will speak also to the following amendments: Nos. 7, 8, 107 and 108. It will be recalled that your Lordships' amendment was agreed to by this House on Report, but it did not take account of the changes to Clause 6(1)(a) made by your Lordships on Third Reading. Those amendments provide that people who are minors at commencement but otherwise eligible for registration under Clause 6(1)(a) will be entitled to registration once they come of full age and will hold this entitlement for five years thereafter.
Your Lordships' amendment would, however, restrict the discretion of the Secretary of State to accept late applications. It is clearly desirable that those who are minors at commencement, and who cannot apply under Clause 6(1)(a) until they are of full age, should be able to benefit from the discretion in your Lord- 1124 ships' amendment on the same terms as applicants who are adults at commencement. There should be discretion to accept late applications from them too, especially where they come of full age near the end of the five-year period. One objective of the amendments we seek to move is to give the Secretary of State such a discretion. The Commons have therefore gone even a little further than the noble Lord, Lord Pitt, did on Third Reading in this House, although I would be the first to recognise that the move in this direction was entirely due to the arguments which Lord Pitt put forward.
§ Moved, That the House doth agree with the Commons in the said amendments to the Lords amendment.—(Lord Belstead.)
§ Lord Pitt of HampsteadMy Lords, I thank the Government for accepting our amendment, for keeping to it and in effect for improving it; I think the Commons amendment to my amendment is an improvement and I therefore hope the House will accept it.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.