Clause 29 - Amendment of Automatic conditions
Hunting Bill
5:15 pm
Mr Paddy Tipping (Sherwood, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 221, in
clause 29, page 11, leave out lines 23 and 24.
In the absence of my hon. Friend the Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mark Tami), I am pleased to speak to the amendment, which will allow the Committee to have a short discussion about the role and powers of the Secretary of State after the Bill receives Royal Assent.
The Committee has had ample opportunity to discuss the registration process. It is clear that there are different views in the Room about the process and widely differing views about the wider issues. A new Secretary of State will have powers under clause 29 to propose changes to the registration scheme set out in clauses 27 and 28. For example, it would be within his power to remove the requirement for a representative of an animal welfare group to accompany the registered individual in the course of hunting, to remove the requirement for insurance or to remove the condition of consent to hunt on the land. All those things are to be done by order, and there is always some anxiety in Committee about the powers of a Secretary of State to do things by order.
The amendment would leave in the Bill the power of the Secretary of State to add a condition but take away his powers to remove or vary conditions. Perhaps the Minister would provide some examples of how a future Secretary of State would be inclined to use the powers.