Orders of the Day — Telecommunications Bill – in the House of Commons at 4:15 pm on 29 March 1983.
I beg to move amendment No. 32 in page 27, line 26, leave out 'Secretary of State' and insert
'Department of Finance and Personnel for Northern Ireland (in this section referred to as "the Department")'.
With this it will be convenient to take Government amendments Nos. 33 to 38.
The amendments are largely technical. They simply correct an anomaly in the clause as drafted. Clause 27 concerns rating in Northern Ireland and provides that any order should be made by the Secretary of State. We have since been advised that rating is a transferred matter for the purposes of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. Therefore, it is more appropriate that the local Department rather than the Secretary of State should make the orders. The amendments simply replace references to the Secretary of State by references to the Department throughout the clause.