Mr Norman Fowler: asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of concern about the operation of the suspended sentence system, he will consider amending the law on this subject.
Mr Norman Fowler: As suspended sentences have helped to fill the prisons rather than to empty them, and as there are already a number of alternatives to prison in existence, will my right hon. Friend consider the case for abolishing suspended sentences rather than simply reforming them?
Mr Norman Fowler: Has my hon. Friend considered the desirability of consolidating rent allowance in the pay since the rent allowance in London amounts to as much as £8 a week? That would be a true picture of the policemen's pay and might act an an inducement to recruitment?
Mr Norman Fowler: Could I draw attention to Early Day Motion No. 473, which stands in my name and which has the support of 50 other Members. The Motion deplores the recent action in the Nottingham area where workers were fined for not taking part in a one-day unofficial strike on 1st March. As there is now an attempt to enforce that decision, could my right hon. Friend find an early opportunity to debate the...
Mr Norman Fowler: Like the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Whitlock), I recognise how important it is that nothing that is said tonight should prejudice the negotiations which are going on in Washington. I pay tribute to the Government's attempts to renegotiate the RB211 contract. It is important to Rolls-Royce (1971), to the workers there and to the whole country that this contract should be...
Mr Norman Fowler: Over the past few years there has been a growing concern about the use and abuse of amphetamines and a growing realisation that they have a very limited medical use. In this debate I should like to touch on some of the problems, and to draw attention to what I believe to be one of the most hopeful schemes for tackling the problem that we have seen in this country. First, it is worth...
Mr Norman Fowler: Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that the point about this Question and Question No. 2 is that over a long period the probation service has not been given sufficient resources and that there is now substantial justification for treating it as a special case in view of the pressure on prison accommodation and the need to develop alternatives to prison sentences?
Mr Norman Fowler: Does the Under-Secretary not agree that the case would be completely met if a broadcasting council were set up to which complaints could be referred?
Mr Norman Fowler: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leominster (Sir Clive Bossom) on the clarity with which he introduced the Amendment, and my hon. Friend the Member for Carlton (Mr. Holland). This is not an area that a non-lawyer, or a non-practising lawyer like myself, enters very readily. It is a technical Bill but also an extremely important one. It is on Clause 10 that the trouble has arisen,...
Mr Norman Fowler: I am obliged, Mr. Speaker. In that case, I will not quote directly from the debate.
Mr Norman Fowler: Certainly, Mr. Speaker. I will phrase the matter differently. The Law Society, in its representations about this provision, was concerned about the extent of Clause 10 and said that in Clause 10 it was proposed that a personal representative's right to retain a debt due to himself should be abolished. The Law Society had endeavoured to apply its mind to this situation and to what would result...
Mr Norman Fowler: I agree with my hon. Friend. I listened carefully to what my hon. Friend the Member for Leominster said about the reasons for this extension. As I understand him, he put forward three reasons. The first was that under the original Bill the onus on the personal representative to prove the reasonableness of his action was too heavy and that the burden that he should act in as reasonable a...
Mr Norman Fowler: I am still not crystal clear. Does that subsection mean that, by virtue of paragraph (a), he cannot give priority to himself?
Mr Norman Fowler: I know that, after Second Reading in another place, discussions were held in which the Law Commission took part. Was this point accepted by the Law Commission
Mr Norman Fowler: I am grateful for my hon. and learned Friend's explanation. However, I am not altogether clear about the distinction between "in good faith" and "acting reasonably". Is there any example which my hon and learned Friend could give on that point?
Mr Norman Fowler: My hon. Friend is extending conservative principles very far. He is almost suggesting that there should be an unlimited public purse for subsidising opera. My view is that some caution is called for.
Mr Norman Fowler: Would it not be appropriate to regard the Welsh National Opera Company, with its tremendous touring experience, and remembering that it comes from the Principality which is renowned as the land of song, as being in course of time the principal touring company with its own orchestra and perhaps with two companies?
Mr Norman Fowler: If the dangers were known as long ago as 1621, my hon. Friend's statement is giving weight to the case which says that there should be legislation. If we are saying that the dangers of tobacco were known 400 years ago, we have waited an unconscionable time for some action to be taken.
Mr Norman Fowler: I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow, Provan (Mr. Hugh D. Brown) on an excellent speech, and particularly for the sentiments he expressed in his final words. I apologise for not being in my place last Friday when the debate on the new Clause began. However, I have read the OFFICIAL REPORT of my right hon. Friend's remarks and the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for...
Mr Norman Fowler: That is an interesting point. I confess that I had forgotten that action by my hon. Friend. Doubtless it is something which the then Labour Government should answer to him for. That is not a point I am putting forward at this stage. Despite the plethora of legislation on drugs, culminating in the Misuse of Drugs Act, some of the most significant and valuable steps have been taken by...