Part of Sustainable Communities Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 2:00 pm ar 9 Mai 2007.
Nick Hurd
Ceidwadwyr, Ruislip - Northwood
2:00,
9 Mai 2007
I thank the Minister again for taking the time to place his position on the record. He has been extremely constructive today. I think that the distance between us on the dance floor has narrowed, but I shall press him on another point. I hear what he says about the timetable and the difficulties of imposing a duty on the Secretary of State before consultation has concluded, but we look forward to seeing a specific proposal from him. The Government should have an obligation to get the ball rolling according to a specific timetable following the passing of the Bill into law.
On the definition, I think that the Minister has taken on board the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset and will consider the feasibility of removing from new Clause 4(2) the words
“must be a person who the Secretary of State thinks represents” and replacing them with “must represent”, to reduce the scope for misinterpretation.
I think that I understood what the Minister said about accountability, although my digestive system was focused on lunch rather than his words, but I fail to understand what is so complicated about the concept of the Secretary of State laying the national action plan before each House of Parliament and undertaking to publish an annual report on the progress of implementation. I cannot think of a simpler concept, and I am still struggling to understand the reasons for the Minister’s reservations, other than the time-honoured tradition of trying to preserve maximum flexibility for Ministers. I ask him to reconsider.
I was generally encouraged by what the Minister said, but I was more troubled by the fact that he was vague to the point of obtuseness about whether he was prepared to agree to the concept of a duty of co-operation between the Secretary of State and the selector, as we have come to know that person. I might not have been paying as much attention as I should have, but it is a fundamental concept. From the terms of new clause 4, it is clear that the Government want to move from a duty to consult to the more distant duty to co-operate, as in the terms of new clause 2, tabled by me and the hon. Members for Falmouth and Camborne and for Stroud. I encourage the Minister to respond to that specific point.
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.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
