Clause 14 - Abolition of combined licences
Water Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Mr Elliot Morley (Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman is suggesting that the principle of time-limiting abstraction licences should be extended to impounding licences. They have different functions, and different controls apply to them. We do not need to place a time limit on impounding licences. That would only increase bureaucracy for licence holders, who would then have to apply, unnecessarily, for two licences, even though the time limit applies only to abstraction licences. The purpose of the clause is simply to reduce bureaucracy for applicants.