I beg to move amendment No. 70, in

clause 19, page 9, line 7, leave out subsection (1) and insert—

'(1) Subject to the following provisions a fire and rescue authority may charge a person for providing a service to them if:

(a) the authority is authorised, but not required, by an enactment, to provide the service to them, and

(b) they have agreed to the provision.'.

With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment No. 71, in

clause 19, page 9, leave out lines 16 to 18 and insert—

'If a fire and rescue authority decide to charge for taking an action of particular description—'.

Amendment No. 71 is a tidying-up amendment consequent on amendment No. 70 being accepted. We want the fire and rescue authorities to have greater freedom in charging than the Bill allows. The clause says:

''The Secretary of State may by order authorise a fire and rescue authority to charge a person of a specified description for any action of a specified description taken by the authority.''

We seek to remove the need for the Secretary of State to make an order to allow an authority to charge and, instead, empower the authority to charge, as local authorities charge under the Local Government Act 2003. In short, we are trying to create the same rules for charging that currently apply to local authorities.

It being twenty-five minutes past Eleven o'clock, The Chairman adjourned the Committee without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.

Adjourned till this day at half-past Two o'clock.

O'Hara, Mr. Edward (

Chairman

Bailey, Mr.

Ellman, Mrs.

Flook, Mr.

Follett, Barbara

Gilroy, Linda

Hammond, Mr.

Hope, Phil

Humble, Mrs.

McCabe, Mr.

Murphy, Mr.

Pugh, Dr.

Raynsford, Mr.

Swire, Mr.

Younger-Ross, Mr.