District Electoral Areas Commissioner (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2006

The issue is simple. On the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Trimble, when the Assembly is back, it will be in charge of local government, in effect. It will be able to make the rules, do what is necessary and make any changes. At present, it is not there and we have to make a modest change, which I can explain in a page and a half—I have only managed to get the first line out so far—about why we have this situation. I was saying that the number of local government districts and the number and boundaries of the wards into which each district is divided are drawn up by the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner, which this order is not about. The role of the District Electoral Areas Commissioner, which this order is about, is to group the wards into multi-member constituencies or district electoral areas for the purposes of the local elections in Northern Ireland, which are run differently from the rest of Great Britain. At present, the District Electoral Areas Commissioner can be appointed only after an order giving effect to the recommendations of the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner has been made. The purpose of the order before us today is to enable us to appoint the District Electoral Areas Commissioner at an earlier stage in the process— specifically, as soon as practicable after the appointment of the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner. It also adds the Chief Survey Officer of Ordnance Survey for Northern Ireland to the list of assessors to the commissioner, and makes a minor correction to the full title of the Registrar General, as it appears in the list of assessors. This is an incredibly modest piece of legislation that is necessary simply because of what is intended for local government change in Northern Ireland. The changes have been set in motion. The date on which the new local government structure will come into being is broadly known and we want to ensure that there is no unnecessary gap between when the Local Government Boundary Commission reports and when the wards are grouped together into the multi-member constituency areas for the purposes of the election. That is the only purpose of the order. I will sit down on this point: this process was followed on the two previous occasions that a district electoral areas commissioner was appointed—in 1992 and 1984. This is not a new process. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the District Electoral Areas Commissioner (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 2006.—(Lord Rooker.)