Commons Bill [HL]

Amendment No. 136 requires the Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales to agree on regulations prescribing the standard terms of the constitution and administration of an association. Amendment No. 138 removes the provision in Clause 28 that allows the standard constitution to be varied or supplemented by individual establishment orders where necessary. Noble Lords will be pleased to hear that my department and the Welsh Assembly Government have worked closely on the development of the Bill and will continue to work closely during implementation. But that does not mean that the way in which we implement the Bill in detail will necessarily be the same in both countries. We do not believe that there is a need for the two authorities to agree on the form of regulations as each will be creating regulations suited to the requirements of each country. But we expect that in all material respects the standard constitutions for England and Wales will be similar in content. On Amendment No. 138, the standard constitution will contain the elements common to all associations. They will apply to all associations, but in certain situations we may want to vary or supplement the terms of the standard constitution to reflect particular local circumstances. The words ““subject as follows”” in Clause 28(2) ensure that the terms of the standard constitution can be varied, and Clause 26 goes on to specify in what manner. We think that removing those words reduces the flexibility needed to allow local circumstances to be taken into account in deciding what the constitution of an individual association should look like. Regulations under Clause 28 will be made before an association is established so it will be clear what the standard constitution is. Government Amendment No. 249 fulfils a recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee of this House. It recommended that the significant common principles of the constitution and administration of associations should appear on the face of the Bill or, if the Bill stays as it is, that regulations made by the Secretary of State under Clause 28 should be subject to the affirmative procedure. We agree that it would be appropriate to have greater scrutiny of the matters that would generally be common to each association, which would include voting rights and membership requirements. We considered carefully whether they should be placed on the face of the Bill. When we tested it for the various types of commons associations that could be established, it became unnecessarily limiting and, in some cases, that approach might have prevented associations being established at all. That is because every common is unique in terms of its physical characteristics and its combination of rights holders, owners and other interests. We believe that having a standard constitution confirmed by affirmative resolution, rather than on the face of the Bill, gives each local common the opportunity to establish an association that fits the local situation. That is why we have tabled Amendment No. 249 to implement the Committee’s recommendation to have the standard constitution subject to the affirmative procedure. In due course, I will move that amendment.