Part of Road Safety Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 7:00 pm on 1 February 2005.
Christopher Chope
Conservative, Christchurch
7:00,
1 February 2005
I am grateful to the Minister for that explanation. He sounds more sympathetic to the case that I have put than it might appear in the Official Report, because his body language shows that he realises that this is an issue that affects that particular company. That firm is not aware of any other operator that currently offers exclusive services to local authorities. I hope that the Government will think again about drafting an Amendment to the Clause that would enable those who provide exclusive services to local authorities to be exempted in the same way as those who provide wedding and funeral services.
The Minister says that wedding and funeral services are not used frequently. Obviously, unless one has a very large and extended family, as an individual one will not be going to funerals and weddings all that frequently. However, those services are sometimes contracted by funeral directors and funeral directors will use the services most days, even several times a day. I therefore do not think that that way of distinguishing between wedding and funeral services and local authority services is valid. The Minister said that he was sympathetic to those amateur drivers, who are already very much controlled by the local authority contractor. One way in which he can demonstrate that sympathy is to offer to think again about the matter.
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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.
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