Clause 5 - Winding up of OFCOM on abandonment etc.
Office of Communications Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Mrs Anne McIntosh (Vale of York, Conservative)
Good afternoon, Mr. Gale, and welcome back to the Committee.
We tried to keep the debate on amendment No. 59 brief to allow a short debate on the clause and I was about to sum up on the amendment when the Committee was adjourned.
The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that it is not just the Secretary of State who decides whether Ofcom is no longer necessary and that its winding up and dissolution comes before Parliament in primary legislation. My hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) and I tabled the amendment because it is more appropriate to have consultation with and consideration by a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament, rather than allowing the Secretary of State to make that decision alone. A Joint Committee is more appropriate than a Select Committee of this House, of the other place or of both.