Commons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 31:"Page 14, line 23, after ““authority”” insert ““in relation to such an application or proposal””" The noble Lord said: My Lords, this amendment refers to Clause 24(6) and to an issue on which we had some discussion in Grand Committee. It concerns the extent to which regulations under this clause can make provision for the appointment of someone else to have the powers held by commons registration authorities—that is, county councils and other local authorities. My concern in Grand Committee was that the Bill as it stands suggests that the regulations can include,"““provision for the appropriate national authority to appoint a person to discharge functions of a commons registration authority””," who could effectively take over that function from the local authority. Following Grand Committee, the Minister offered to write to noble Lords. The letter, dated 31 October, was very satisfactory. It reads:"““Clause 23 does enable regulations to provide for the appointment of a person to fulfil some or all of the functions of the commons registration authority in relation to an application or proposal in all or particular cases . . . The power cannot be used to remove the function of commons registration itself from local authorities””." The letter goes on to detail many instances in which it might be sensible, such as where an authority has an interest in the outcome, where there are particularly difficult questions of law or fact, or highly complex applications that authorities would not feel that they were capable of dealing with but that might be handed to inspectors in the absence of the commissioners, who my noble friend would like to return. What the Government have told us in correspondence is very satisfactory. The reason for tabling this further amendment is that it clarifies the position by making subsection (6) as it stands refer to such an application or proposal, to which reference is made earlier in the subsection, rather than it just being a general statement that the authority can take over functions and discharge functions. Nevertheless, it seemed that it would be helpful to table the amendment so that the Minister could make some of the points in the House that he has made in correspondence and so that the matter is on the record in Hansard, which is a slightly greater authority than private letters, helpful though they are. That is the reason for tabling the amendment. I beg to move.