Orders of the Day — Pilotage Bill [Lords]

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 7:54 pm on 30 March 1987.

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Photo of Michael Spicer Michael Spicer Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport) 7:54, 30 March 1987

I do not understand why that should be so. The budget will be determined by the port authority and the agency. It is unlikely that the pilots will overman their agency; I do not think that my hon. Friend needs to be concerned about that. The ports will not lose control either over charging or over the budgets, but we are saying—quite properly and fairly, I believe—that the self-employing agencies should be able to decide how many people work for them. They would not be in business for very long if they were overmanned and exceeded their budgets. So long as we leave control over charging and budgeting to the ports, as we have, my hon. Friend's fears are not well founded.