HL Deb 07 March 1987 vol 487 cc292-3

3 Clause 3, page 4, line 36, leave out "any alteration in or".

4 Page 4, line 38, at end insert "; but the authorisation of a person who provides his services as a pilot under a contract for services may not be revoked by an authority by virtue of paragraph (c) above unless it gave him notice before the appointed day that the number of persons it proposed to authorise exceeded the number required to be authorised and it proposed to revoke his authorisation after allowing him a reasonable period from the appointed day to seek authorisation by another competent harbour authority.

Lord Brabazon of Tara

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 3 and 4 en bloc.

The Bill as drafted provided that one of the grounds on which a CHA may suspend or revoke the authorisation of a pilot was that there were too many pilots in the port. Amendment No. 4 limits that power to cases where the pilots are employed by the CHA; in other cases, including those where pilots are self-employed, the CHA will not be able to remove authorisations on these grounds, this amendment is intended to make self-employment a more attractive possibility for the pilots than it would otherwise be, since it will give them greater security that they will be able to continue working as pilots even if trade in the port falls away. Notwithstanding the amendment, I am satisfied that CHAs will have a number of ways of ensuring that costs are kept under control, principally through their power to set the original number of authorisations, to set pilotage charges, and through the terms of the contracts of agreements that will govern the provision of pilotage services by agents or self-employed pilots. They will also of course have the power to change the arrangements in the port from an agency arrangement to direct employment.

Amendment No. 3 makes it clear that it is the termination of a contract, not merely its alteration, that provides grounds for suspension or revocation of a licence under Clause 3(5), I beg to move.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in the said amendments.—(Lord Brabazon of Tara.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.