Part of Criminal Justice Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 2:30 pm ar 4 Mawrth 2003.
Vera Baird
Llafur, Redcar
2:30,
4 Mawrth 2003
I am grateful to the Minister for his words. I should like to compliment the participants in the debate and thank them for their help with the issue, which is not straightforward. My hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham made a strong contribution about public confidence, and his argument is extremely important.
I compliment the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) on his common-sense, lay analysis of the situation which gave me a good deal of support. I echo the question that he asked towards the end of his contribution: if not now, when? I appreciate that the Minister has indicated that the answer is ''as soon as possible''. He knows that he can rely on not being allowed to let that drift for very long. ''Possible'' is a term of which I shall remind him.
I compliment my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Kemptown on his contribution, and particularly on his references to Clause 21. I apologise if I took rather longer to open the debate this morning than some members of the Committee may have thought appropriate. It is not a straightforward issue, and it was important to set out at some length not only the problems but the groping towards a solution. It was also slightly less perfect than I might have hoped because I had no foreknowledge that my hon. Friend's clock was not working. [Interruption.] I sense a defamation action coming on.
Finally, I thank the Law Commission, which has been as helpful as it could have been, both in allowing me to know what its deliberations were and in reserving its thoughts on, and pointers towards, what was coming until it felt able to make them public because it was satisfied that the Home Office had received its submission.
I had intended to answer some of the points raised by the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve), but he is not here. I make no point about his absence, but he summed up by saying that his only objection was to subsection (5), which gave him the heeby-jeebies. That is a difficult concept to argue against; consequently I shall not try to do so.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
