Clause 14 - Power to amend or repeal private or local acts
Vehicles (Crime) Bill
9:00 pm
Mr John Bercow (Buckingham, Conservative)
I shall apply Sellotape to my lips as a result of your instruction, Mr. O'Brien, but shall then rip it off to comment on matters on which you authorise me to speak, as opposed to those about which I am precluded from speaking.
I am concerned about clause 14(2) because it involves what I might call the tantalising technique of creating just a little encouragement for the Opposition. There is a scintilla of hope—if I may pithily describe it thus—that the Secretary of State, in exercising the magisterial functions that the Bill's powers confer on him, will engage in some consultation. We are grateful for that. We are, of course, talking about the relatively dry but nevertheless important matter of the Secretary of State's power to amend or repeal private or local Acts
if it appears to him necessary or expedient to do so in consequence of this Part.
Subsection (2) refers to the exercise of the Secretary of State's power
under subsection (1) in relation to any Act which concerns the area of a local authority or county council.
It specifically stipulates that, in that circumstance,
the Secretary of State shall consult the local authority or county council concerned.
My response to that is ``goodie'', followed by a number of fairly straightforward questions to which I feel sure that the Minister will know the answers without the need for any pieces of paper to wing their way down to him from the highly qualified officials nearby.
First, how will the consultation be conducted? That is not specified in subsection (2). Is the consultation to be undertaken in writing and, in that sense, a formal process? Would it be legitimate for it to be conducted by a conference call by telephone to affected parties, without a minute—a little like last week's Programming Sub-Committee—still less a verbatim account of proceedings? Could the consultation be undertaken in a series of bilateral meetings with a Minister or designated officials acting on his or her behalf? We do not know, because the subsection does not tell us. Further and better particulars are required.
I am not suggesting that anything sinister is involved—[Laughter.] I suppose that I could suggest that: the Minister probably thinks that I am being rather generous in not doing so. Governments often wish to give the imprimatur of a consultation process, which really amounts to the briefest of confabs with one or two interviewees, selected because it is thought that they will be ready to listen to the ministerial line and then to acquiesce to it readily and without complaint.
We need to know the extent to which the consultation will be serious. Will it be in writing? Will it be undertaken at Member level or with very little attention from Members, even if it will ultimately be undertaken on their behalf by officials acting on behalf of the Secretary of State? Will it be invested with the degree of seriousness that consultation between a Minister and a senior councillor would represent?
Secondly, over what period will the consultation be conducted? In a sense, that is inextricably bound up with the question of the consultation's authenticity and seriousness. Will it be undertaken over one, two or three months? Is the local authority obliged to consult among its wider membership or will the consultation be compartmentalised within the particular department of the district, borough or county council concerned? We know not, but it is uncertain whether the Department has given detailed thought to that point.
It is fairly certain that the Minister has not yet given it detailed thought. He is weighty, distinguished, influential, respected, busy and ambitious, and he has a very full diary. He has important responsibilities to discharge—a lot of rubber-chicken circuit dinners to attend, people to cultivate, friendships to maintain and new sources of influence to embrace. He has worthy objectives, so far be it from me—a humble junior servant of the masses—to cavil at what the Minister has on his plate.