HL Deb 16 May 1996 vol 572 cc557-60

3.34 p.m.

Read a third time.

Clause 50 [Rights to time off for public duties]:

The Lord Chancellor moved Amendment No. 1: Page 32, line 32, leave out ("National Rivers Authority or a river purification board,") and insert ("Environment Agency or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency,").

The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 1, I should like to speak also to the other amendments which stand in my name. Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 13 arise from the making of recent regulations under the provisions of the Environment Act 1995 to replace statutory references to the National Rivers Authority and river purification boards, which were abolished on 1st April, with references to the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which have taken over their roles.

Section 29 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978, which is consolidated in Clause 50 of the Bill, confers on employees a right to time off from work to act as a member of various public bodies referred to in that section. Amendment No. 1 carries through an amendment made to Section 29 of the 1978 Act by the new regulations, substituting a reference to the new bodies for that to the National Rivers Authority and river purification boards. Amendment No. 2 is consequential upon that change. Given that the Bill, as amended, carries forward into primary legislation the change which the new regulations make to Section 29 of the 1978 Act, Amendment No. 13 repeals the relevant provisions of those regulations, as they are no longer required.

It is anticipated that the Reserve Forces Bill, which has now passed your Lordships' House and which is presently being considered in the other place, will receive Royal Assent either before or on the same day as the present Bill. Amendments Nos. 3, 8, 10 and 12 are necessary in order that the Bill consolidates the law as it stands once the new Reserve Forces Act comes into force. Amendment No. 9 makes transitional provision to allow for the possibility that the relevant provisions of the new Act may not come into force before the present Bill receives Royal Assent.

Amendments Nos. 4 to 7 and 11 correct a number of minor drafting errors in the Bill. Clause 203 consolidates similar provisions in Section 140 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 and Section 6 of the Wages Act 1986. The former applies to "employees" and the latter to "workers", a wider notion which brings in some persons who are not employed under a contract of service. Amendments Nos. 4 to 6 correct a drafting slip in Clause 203 which presently refers only to employees. Amendments Nos. 7 and 11 tidy up some minor slips in the consequential amendments and repeals made in Section 579 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

This Bill has, of course, been considered by the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills, and the amendments have been approved by the chairman of the Joint Committee, my noble and learned friend Lord Lloyd of Berwick, for whose assistance I am again most grateful. I beg to move.

Lord Monkswell

My Lords, I hesitate to intervene in what may seem to be a private party which the Lord Chancellor is having with himself, but I should like to ask two questions which may be easily answered. First, what precedent is there for incorporating into a Bill the provisions of another Bill which has not yet been passed? Secondly, from what the noble and learned Lord said earlier, I gather that the amendments he is proposing refer to the requirements of the Armed Forces Bill and the Reserve Forces Bill, neither of which has yet received Royal Assent. What would happen if, for example, prior to their receiving Royal Assent, there were a dissolution and a general election or some other occurrence resulting in the Government's inability to see the Bills through to becoming Acts?

The Lord Chancellor

My Lords, this is certainly not intended to be a private party. If I wanted to have one, I would have it in a different situation. In the course of developing a Bill, it is reasonable to take account of what is likely to happen with other Bills proceeding at the same time. As I explained, perhaps too briefly, in both cases we have inserted transitional provisions to ensure that the relevant clause will not come into force before the other Bills whose existence I predicated as part of the amendment process. The idea is that everything will fit together with anticipated events. I believe that that is wise, correct and, on the whole, carried out properly in this series of amendments.

On Question, amendment agreed to.

The Lord Chancellor moved Amendment No. 2: Page 34, line 10, leave out subsection (10).

On Question, amendment agreed to.

Clause 192 [Armed forces]:

The Lord Chancellor moved Amendment No. 3: Page 112, line 45, leave out ("VI of the Reserve Forces Act 1980") and insert ("XI of the Reserve Forces Act 1996").

On Question, amendment agreed to.

Clause 203 [Restrictions on contracting out]:

The Lord Chancellor moved Amendments Nos. 4 to 6: Page 122, line 18, after ("employee") insert ("or worker"). Page 122, line 23, after ("employee") insert ("or worker"). Page 122, line 29, at end insert ("or worker").

On Question, amendments agreed to.

Schedule 1 [Consequential amendments]:

The Lord Chancellor moved Amendment No. 7: Page 150, line 20, after ("(5)(a)") insert ("and in subsection (4)(a) as it has effect for the purposes of corporation tax").

On Question, amendment agreed to.

Schedule 2 [Transitional provisions, savings and transitory provisions]:

The Lord Chancellor moved Amendments Nos. 8 and 9: Page 163, line 11, leave out ("VI of the Reserve Forces Act 1980") and insert ("XI of the Reserve Forces Act 1996"). Page 163, line 19, at end insert— (".—(1) If Part XI of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 has not come into force before the commencement of this Act, section 192 of this Act shall have effect until the relevant commencement date as if for "Part XI of the Reserve Forces Act 1996" there were substituted "Part VI of the Reserve Forces Act 1980". (2) The reference in sub-paragraph (1) to the relevant commencement date is a reference—

  1. (a) if an order has been made before the commencement of this Act appointing a day after that commencement as the day on which Part XI of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 is to come into force, to the day so appointed, and
  2. (b) otherwise, to such day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint.").

On Question, amendments agreed to.

Schedule 3 [Repeals and revocations]:

The Lord Chancellor moved Amendments Nos. 10 to 13: Page 164, leave out lines 35 and 36. Page 166, line 18, column 3, leave out ("subsection (3)(b),") and insert ("subsections (2)(b) and (3)(b) and in subsection (4)(b) as it has effect otherwise than for the purposes of corporation tax,"). Page 168, line 52, at end insert—

("1996 c. 00. The Reserve Forces Act 1996. In Schedule 10, paragraph 17.")

Page 169, line 28, at end insert—

("S.I. 1996/593. The Environment Act 1995 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 1996. In Schedule 1, paragraph 19.

S.I. 1996/973. The Environment Act 1995 (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 1996. In the Schedule, paragraph 4.")

On Question, amendments agreed to.

The Lord Chancellor

My Lords, I beg to move that the Bill do now pass.

Moved, That the Bill do now pass.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.