Lord Hardie: My Lords, on Report I drew attention to the unfair effect upon a development on Skye. The original provisions about the date upon which the guillotine would fall on new onshore wind farms discriminated against a development at Glen Ullinish in Skye which had planning permission, control of the land, the support of the local community and an agreement to link to the grid; the developers were...
Lord Hardie: My Lords, I also want to draw attention to the fact that this legislation is unfair. Contrary to the statement of the Minister in the other place referred to by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, I would point out that the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, mentioned an example on the Isle of Skye. Perhaps I may give the House some more detail about it. There is a development on...
Lord Hardie: I would like to ask the Minister about the extension of time. I fully understand and think it is fair that there has been an extension of time where planning permission is granted on appeal. However, did I understand the Minister to say that, where permission was refused on appeal, and if there were a judicial review that ultimately granted permission, that would be respected and it would be...
Lord Hardie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Faulks on 10 March (HL Deb, col 646) about the recruitment of a chair of the national mental capacity forum, (1) when the recruitment process was first advertised in national publications by inviting applications for the post; (2) what was the specification of the duties of the chair; (3) whether they will provide a copy of the...
Lord Hardie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Faulks on 10 March (HL Deb, col 646) about the creation of the national mental capacity forum, (1) whether an appointment has been made to the chair of that forum, and if not, when they expect to make such an appointment; (2) how soon after the appointment of the chair they expect the membership and composition of the forum to...
Lord Hardie: Perhaps I might assist the House. Of course, this is a devolved matter and it would be for the Scottish Parliament to deal with the question of sentencing. But the reality is that the courts in Scotland take into account aggravating factors such as drug offences committed in prison, and it is a matter of practice in Scotland that judges will impose a higher sentence on someone who has...
Lord Hardie: My Lords, I certainly sympathise with the observations of the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, about the desirability of avoiding young people having convictions. However, I should like to take issue with the comment of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, about the prosecution of a 14 year-old. As a former Lord Advocate, I know that the prosecution will always take into account the circumstances of...
Lord Hardie: My Lords, so far there has been reference to time for prayers. In fact, if one looks at new Section 138A, it is much wider than that. It says: “The business at a meeting of a local authority in England may include time for … prayers or other religious observance, or … observance connected with a religious or philosophical belief”. To take up the point that the noble Baroness just...
Lord Hardie: My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords and to the Minister for contributing to this stimulating and wide-ranging debate. Noble Lords have raised different aspects of the report and drawn attention to it, thereby giving it much wider coverage than I was able to do. I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, for his explanation of the Cheshire West...
Lord Hardie: My Lords, I refer to my entry in the register of interests as honorary president of Capability Scotland. In inviting the House to take note of the report of the Select Committee on the Mental Capacity Act 2005, I thank the members of the committee for their hard work and commitment throughout the inquiry. This was an arduous process, involving the assessment of written and oral evidence...
Lord Hardie: My Lords, I apologise for speaking at this late hour and detaining your Lordships but Amendment 138 is important for the application of the safeguards in the Mental Capacity Act against depriving people of their liberty without justification and for the need to provide proper judicial supervision of such actions. I declare an interest in that I was chairman of the Select Committee on the...
Lord Hardie: Can I clarify in my own mind what the argument is? As I understand the Minister, the justification for the clause is that it would meet the test of the Red Tape Challenge. However, I also understand that the burden of the power will still exist for a tribunal to make an observation in the same terms as a recommendation. I am struggling to understand how that does not impose upon the employer...
Lord Hardie: I was going to say that I would not add such an adjective. The noble and learned Lord will remember that I tabled two amendments: the first was to preserve the status quo and the other was to seek an increase in the limits. As the noble and learned Lord has much more experience in political matters than I have, he will appreciate that it is useful to have a stop-gap in case the main objective...
Lord Hardie: The noble and learned Lord is correct; it was a mistake on my part, I should have said £12,000. The point was that it is simply over the limit in Scotland but under the limit in England.
Lord Hardie: My Lords, before speaking to the amendment in my name, I thank the Government and the noble and learned Lord the Advocate-General for listening to the concerns from all sides of the House about the original proposal in the Bill to reduce the existing thresholds for registration as a recognised third party. The government amendment addresses these concerns and, rather than reducing the limits,...
Lord Hardie: My Lords, I seek a point of clarification. In light of the decision of the House to accept the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, on special advisers, will the Minister tell the House whether it is the Government’s position that, notwithstanding that decision, the Government have no intention of adding information relative to special advisers’ meetings with lobbyists when the...
Lord Hardie: I thank the noble and learned Lord for that explanation. I simply comment in passing that if it got the stage of having to have a judicial review, then that is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. But in all the circumstances I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 17 withdrawn. Clause 9: Notice to supply information Amendment 18 Moved by Lord Wallace of Tankerness 18: Clause 9, page 5,...
Lord Hardie: Perhaps I can answer the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours. In the debate about the first amendment today, I referred to how the PRCA requires people who sign up to the voluntary register to sign up to the code of conduct, which has strong enforcement of regulations or provisions. My point earlier was that if that disappears and there is to be a statutory register in place, it would be...
Lord Hardie: My Lords, this amendment seeks to give a right of appeal to someone whom the registrar has removed from the register. Clause 6(6) says: “If the Registrar has reasonable grounds for believing that a registered person is not (or is no longer) a consultant lobbyist, the Registrar may decide that— (a) the person’s entry should include a statement to that effect, or (b) the person’s entry...
