Transport (Wales) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 28 June 2005.
Bill Wiggin
Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
4:30,
28 June 2005
I beg to move amendment No. 11, in page 6, line 38, leave out subsection (4).
The amendment would simply delete what seems to be a superfluous subsection. The Assembly does not need the provision of subsection (4) for it to vary or revoke directions under the clause. Subsection (1) already grants the Assembly the power to give the committee directions as to how it should discharge its functions. From that, it should be obvious that it can change them as it wishes. Again, we must be careful that the committee does not become a puppet of the Assembly and that the Assembly does not have too much control. Such provisions must be carefully monitored and reviewed.
Nick Ainger
Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Office of the Secretary of State for Wales
Clause 10(1) permits the Assembly to give directions to the Committee about the discharge of its functions. Amendment No. 11 would prevent the Assembly from changing or revoking any such direction once given. Situations evolve, and it would be inconsistent for us to give the Assembly the power to issue guidance or give directions without also giving it the power to alter or revoke them in the light of changing circumstances. I therefore suggest to the hon. Gentleman that, if the Assembly should have the power to give directions and guidance, it should also have the power to remove them. I therefore urge him to withdraw the amendment.
Bill Wiggin
Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is not one of the great “die in the ditch” moments of the Bill. I simply suggest that when the Assembly does not want something to be done, it should give guidance that it should cease. It seems to be unduly heavy-handed to give it a power to revoke. I genuinely did not think that my amendment would make a huge amount of difference, but I wanted to tease out of the Minister why the particular provision was included. When one has the privilege to seek to amend a Bill, it is useful to try to find out why certain parts that seem to be superfluous have been included, and I was doing no more than that. I agree with the Minister that if one issues an instruction, one should have the option to withdraw it. However, the drafting technique strikes me as unusual, and I am not sure that the provision is completely necessary. I do not wish to take up a great deal of the Committee’s time, and there is no further mileage to be had out of the amendment, so I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
