Clause 56 - Duration of BID arrangements etc
Local Government Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
I should like to probe the Minister on subsections (4), (5) and (6). The Minister rejected my practical proposal that some estimate should be given before the BID comes into operation. Given the use of modern computers and the average size of the BID—probably a few hundred people—I suggested that it would be relatively simple and inexpensive to communicate at least an estimate of how much each business was likely to have to pay to give it greater certainty in planning its business.
Do the provisions specified in subsections (4), (5) and (6) relate generally to all BIDs, or are there specific regulations for each BID?
Subsection (4) states:
''The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision . . . as to the alteration of BID arrangements, and . . . as to the termination of BID arrangements.''
I presume that that is the power to terminate them if they start to go wrong financially. That power is then circumscribed by subsection (5), which states:
''The provision which may be made by virtue of subsection (4)(a) or (b) includes provision preventing or restricting the alteration or early termination of BID arrangements.''
Subsection (5) is unnecessary, as the Secretary of State already has the power in subsection (4). If subsection (5) is superfluous, subsection (6) is wholly superfluous. It states:
''Nothing in subsection (5) is to be taken as limiting the power conferred by subsection (4).''
Will the Minister comment on that? The drafting is very clumsy. Subsection (5) could be removed, as
could subsection (6), and nothing would be lost from the Bill.