– in a Public Bill Committee at 12:00 am on 1 March 2018.
Before we resume our consideration of the Bill, I have a few standard announcements to make. Could you all ensure that your mobile devices are switched to silent mode? As usual, amendments on similar issues have been grouped together and we shall take them in the order in which they appear on the selection list. My fellow Chair and I will use our discretion over whether to allow separate stand part debates on individual clauses.
I apologise to Committee members for the unacceptably low temperature in the Committee Room. We have brought in some heaters, and I hope we will bring in some more. You are perfectly welcome to wear outside garments, including headgear, to keep warm. I know that that is very unusual, but I must put it on record, with no word of a lie, that we are working in very low temperatures. I really appreciate everyone’s diligence in being here and agreeing to go ahead with our considerations in these extreme conditions. I have looked at other available Committee Rooms, but they seem also to lack the wherewithal to be heated to a reasonable temperature.
Without further ado, let us consider clause 1.
Clause 1