Part of Enterprise Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:45 pm on 7 May 2002.
Miss Melanie Johnson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry
12:45,
7 May 2002
The explanation is simple. The Competition Commission will not necessarily know what information the OFT has. The OFT has a duty to give to the Secretary of State or an appropriate Minister all the information it has that has been requested and which the OFT believes is appropriate. The provision may be needed when the Secretary of State is considering referral of a market to the Competition Commission, and the OFT may have information that has led it to conclude that a market reference is unnecessary. The OFT should then be able to share that information with the Secretary of State, but the Competition Commission will not necessarily know what the OFT has.
Clause 162 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
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.
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.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
