Flood and Water Management Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 11:15 am on 19 January 2010.
Anne McIntosh
Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I have a question for the Minister. The Clause gives the Minister the right to direct a risk management authority to exercise a flood and coastal erosion risk management function. Under what circumstances might such a direction be given?
Also, subsection (4) states:
Will that be published on the website and be again debatable in both Houses? Presumably, a precedent is being set to other local authorities in similar circumstances going forward. So it could be a matter of some significance, a direction in its own right.
Huw Irranca-Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Marine and Natural Environment)
To clarify, the power within the Clause can be exercised only where the Minister finds that a risk management authority has failed to carry out its flood or coastal erosion risk management functions or has acted in a way that does not accord with the national local strategies. Therefore, it is intended that this power be exercised in accordance with established protocols and local government’s performance, and that, where feasible, the authority with primary responsibility is first given the opportunity to rectify any failing. We expect the power to be used only as a last resort.
There are various default provisions in the current legislation which do not require a ministerial direction. The decision to exercise default powers lies in the hands of different authorities. For example, the Environment Agency has default powers in relation to internal drainage boards. The intention of this new clause is to create a common approach applying to all bodies and to ensure that decisions about the exercise of default powers are subject to ministerial direction.
The clause allows for the direction to include a provision for the directed authority to recover costs from the defaulting authority for works carried out on its behalf. The clause also requires the Minister to publish and issue the defaulting authority with a copy of the direction, except where this may be contrary to the interests of national security. As to whether it would be published on the website, it would be dealt with as per normal with the normal Government performance framework protocol. This in effect means that it is highly likely that it will also be published on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website.
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.
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.
