Part of Road Safety Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 1 February 2005.
David Wilshire
Assistant Chief Whip, Whips
4:30,
1 February 2005
My hon. Friend has partly made one point that I wanted to raise. I hope that we do not move to a situation where we have to have a pseudo-national flag stuck on our vehicles by virtue of those silly little yellow stars. I shall not go too far down that track, other than to say that I am totally opposed to anything that purports to be to do with a united states of Europe, and I do not wish to see it forced on us in any shape or form.
New subsection (1B), which amends section 28 of the Vehicles (Crime) Act 2001, says:
''The Secretary of State may by regulation provide that the offence under subsection (1A) is not committed in circumstances prescribed by the regulations.''
Reading the explanatory notes, I am concerned that that gives the Secretary of State the right to say, ''Notwithstanding the regulations, I hereby decree that this will not be an offence.''
Another bee in my bonnet is advertising on number plates. I made it my business when I was changing cars to double check exactly what is permitted. In my view, a registration plate should have nothing on it other than the number, but I was told that there had to be a very small identification of its supplier, so that it could be checked. I also discovered that the requirement for a mark indicating who supplied it did not extend to large type underneath, saying, ''Joe Bloggs Ltd. Vauxhall dealers'', which is what tends to appear on number plates. I sincerely hope that the Minister will give us an assurance that the Secretary of of State will not succumb to the blandishments of the motor trade and allow adverts on number plates. Whenever I have changed cars, I have always said to the supplier that I would deduct £500 from the purchase price as an advertising fee if he wished to advertise his garage on my number plates. I do not understand why those people should use number plates for free advertising.
I hope that the Minister can assure us that advertising will not become an exception and that the only thing allowed on the number plate will be some very small indication of the supplier. If he went further and said that he will ban the blue flags, I would be even more grateful.
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.
