Part of Extradition Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 3:15 pm on 16 January 2003.
Mr Nick Hawkins
Conservative, Surrey Heath
3:15,
16 January 2003
I need not detain the Committee long, but it might be helpful, with regard to the first amendments relating to Commonwealth countries and others, to have a brief stand part debate. We
understand that counterpart provisions are needed on extradition to Commonwealth countries, British overseas territories and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
Will the Minister clarify whether there are any changes in this legislation as compared with the previous extradition law? Obviously, one change since the late 1980s or early 1990s is that there was no such thing as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and special arrangements may have been made after Hong Kong became such a region after the lease came to an end. Will the Minister say briefly what changes, if any, the Bill introduces? I thought this the appropriate moment to raise that general point. I have specific queries on one or two clauses, but at this stage I should be grateful if the Minister would just give us the background.
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.
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.
