§ (" . The text of section 25 of the Trustee Act 1925 as amended by the Powers of Attorney Act 1971 and this Act is set out in Schedule (Text of section 25 of the Trustee Act 1925 as amended).").
§ The noble and learned Lord said: In moving Amendment No. 1, I wish to speak also to Amendment No. 2, although I shall not detain the Committee for many minutes. Amendment No. 2 is a Keeling schedule which I tabled in order to make it easier for the reader to understand the impact of Clause 5 of the Bill on Section 25 of the Trustee Act 1925. My amendments are supported by the Law Society.
§ The Minister telephoned me this morning to say that he would achieve the same result by tabling an amendment for Third Reading which would put the final form of Clause 25 of the Trustee Act into Clause 5 of the Bill. This would achieve, by an alternative route, exactly the result I sought and is wholly satisfactory.
§
I have only one tiny niggle. When the noble and learned Lord spoke to me on the telephone this morning, he told me that he would table the amendment for Third Reading. In a letter which reached me half an hour ago there is a slight gloss on that. The letter used the words,
at Third Reading or as soon as practicable thereafter".
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Can the noble and learned Lord omit the words "as soon as practicable thereafter"? All that needs to be done is to transport the wording of Amendment No. 2 into Clause 5 of the Bill. The wording is absolutely accurate; it has been in the hands of the parliamentary draftsman for a fortnight and it has never been suggested that a single word needs changing. Would it not be better to send a polished Bill down to the other place rather than one which is still in need of amendment? I beg to move.
§ Lord GoodhartI support the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brightman. This will be of considerable practical help to those who study the Bill—or Act, as it will become—in the course of their professional duties. I am glad that the Minister has agreed to accept it in principle. I am not sure whether this would meet with the approval of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Simon of Glaisdale, who has taken up a considerable part of the debates on the Access to Justice Bill in trying to remove surplus words from the Bill. In this case it seems to me to be appropriate, and I welcome the noble and learned Lord's amendment.
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonThe amendment tabled by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brightman, would result in the inclusion of what is called a Keeling schedule in the Bill. Introduced in 1937, these schedules—named after a Member of another place whose inquiries of the then Prime Minister gave rise to their use—are now little used. They tend to give rise to handling difficulties during the passage of Bills and set the amended provision in aspic. Future amendments to the provision would not show up on a Keeling schedule and it might become a trap for the unwary at a later date. However, the noble and learned Lord has put a persuasive argument that the provision in this Bill, which amends Section 25 of the Trustee Act, should be treated exceptionally.
He has accurately recorded the conversation we had. I undertake to introduce a government amendment—well, I say that I undertake to introduce a government amendment, but I am not going to give him satisfaction on his last point. I undertake that an amendment will be introduced at some stage, in effect, to set out the whole of the new Section 25 in the body of the Bill, which meets his point.
I did say to him on the telephone that it would be done by Third Reading. I am now told that I am not in a position to give such a watertight undertaking and that it might have to be introduced during the Commons stage of the Bill. I appreciate the humiliation to this House of not sending a Bill to the other place in tiptop form, but I am afraid that is the best I can do, and for that I apologise.
§ Lord BrightmanSubject to my slight niggle, I thank the noble and learned Lord for the helpful attitude he has adopted towards my amendment. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Remaining clauses agreed to.
1423§ [Amendment No. 2 not moved.]
§ Schedule agreed to.
§ House resumed: Bill reported without amendment.
§ Report received.