Commons Bill [Lords]

Jim Knight (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; South Dorset, Labour)

I beg to move,

That—

(1)during proceedings on the Commons Bill [Lords] the Standing Committeeshall (in addition to its first meeting on Tuesday 25th April at 10.30a.m.) meeton—

(a) Tuesday25th April at 4.00p.m.;

(b) Thursday27th April at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00p.m.;

(2) theproceedings on the Bill shall (so far as not previously concluded) bebrought to a conclusion at 4.00 p.m. on Thursday 27thApril.

It is a greatpleasure to serve for the first time under your chairmanship, MissBegg. It is perhaps a sad reality of devolution that no ScottishMembers of Parliament are members of the Committee, so it is a joy thattwo Scottish MPs will be in the Chair using their wisdom to look afterus. We are all looking forward to that and to our forthcomingproceedings in which the various stars of the debate on Second Readingwill be brought together. The programme motion is straightforward inrespect of the timing of the four sittings of theCommittee.

James Paice (Shadow Minister (Agriculture & Rural Affairs), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

May I addmy welcome to you, Miss Begg? In light of the Minister’sreference to both Chairmen being Scots, I am sure that we shall havecomplete impartiality from the Chair—even more than we wouldhave done—as the Bill is solely to do with commons in Englandand Wales. The hon. Gentleman referred to the stars of the debate onSecond Reading. It was not the longest debate in the history of debatesin the House of Commons; nevertheless the Bill involves many issues.Although it will not grab partisan headlines, a lot of matters willaffect many ordinary people, farmers and others throughout thecountry.

I confessthat, during my preparation for the Bill, I was surprised how manydifferent issues arose. I have many matters on which to challenge theMinister and I know from working with him on previous Bills—Ican say “with” not “against”—that heis always open to constructive proposals. I am sure that we are lookingforward to his constructive responses. Several wrinkles need to beironed out. Questions need to be asked and, in some cases, changes needto be made despite the excellent work of the House of Lords in itsconsideration of the Bill. However, unusually, it did not get the Billentirely right so I am happy to support the programmemotion.

Roger Williams (Shadow Minister (Rural Affairs), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Brecon and Radnorshire, Liberal Democrat)

I alsowelcome you to our proceedings, Miss Begg, and look forward to servingunder your chairmanship.As the hon. Member for South-EastCambridgeshire (Mr. Paice) said, when preparing for our proceedings inCommittee we received several representations and a number of issuesmust be teased out. We might not have the opportunity for another 40years to deal with common land. It is therefore our duty to give theBill full scrutiny and attention so that we can put it in a form thatwill serve the interests of not only landowners and rights holders, butthe public who regard commons as an important national resource fortheir recreation, nature conservation and other conservation issues. Asalways, I look forward to the Minister’s constructivecontributions to the debates and his responses to our amendments. Therepresentations that we shall put forward will not necessarily betechnical, but they come from people who have experience of managingcommon land and exercising theirrights.

Anne Begg (Aberdeen South, Labour)

I remind the Committee that there is a moneyresolution in connection with the Bill, copies of which are availablein the room. Adequate notice should be given of amendments. As ageneral rule, I and my fellow Chairman do not intend to call starredamendments, including any that might be reached during an afternoonsitting of theCommittee.