Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

May I take clauses 14 to 17 together, Mr Gray?

Yes, you may take them together but we will decide on them separately.

Thank you for your clarification, Mr Gray. Amendment 17 to clause 14—

Order. That amendment has not been selected. The position is that no amendments have been selected for clauses 14 to 17, so the only debates possible are whether those clauses stand part of the Bill. If either side wishes a clause not to stand part, we can debate it and divide on it, but the view may be taken that we have debated the issues sufficiently elsewhere, so we can move on to clause 18, amendments to which have been selected. However, the Government or the Member in charge of the Bill are perfectly entitled, if they wish, to have a debate on clauses 14 to 17, but that will be on whether they stand part of the Bill.

I am grateful for your further clarification, Mr Gray. I believe that the understanding was that those clauses should not stand part of the Bill, as the provisions in them have already been addressed elsewhere in the Bill or have become unnecessary because of provisions in other legislation. For those reasons, I am proposing that the clause not stand part of the Bill.

As the hon. Gentleman has just outlined, many of the provisions in clauses 14 to 17 are covered by other legislation, such as the Data Protection Act, and oversight by the Information Commissioner’s Office. There are obviously powers of enforcement accruing in that way. In the spirit of avoiding duplication, we are content that the clauses be removed from the Bill.

For the sake of clarity, when I say that the question is that the clause should stand part of the Bill, the answer if you wish them to be removed from the Bill is no.

Question put and negatived.

Clause 14 accordingly disagreed to.

Clauses 15 to 17 disagreed to.

Clause 18