Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister – in the House of Commons at 6:45 pm on 4 November 2009.
Sarah McCarthy-Fry
Parliamentary Secretary, HM Treasury
6:45,
4 November 2009
I beg to move Amendment 42, page 71, line 20, at end insert-
'Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32)22A In paragraphs 5 and 8 of Schedule 5 after "Comptroller and Auditor General" insert "or the National Audit Office".'.
This is a minor and consequential measure. If part 7 is enacted, certain functions carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General will in future be carried out by the new National Audit Office. The amendment will prevent the provision of an Assembly measure from modifying the functions of the National Audit Office without the consent of the Secretary of State. A similar provision already applies in relation to the functions of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Amendment 42 agreed to.
Schedule 9, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 50 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
