THE day-to-day business of government is mind-bogglingly burdensome and complex at times.
There’s a huge amount of legislation that has to be dealt with and there’s no way the Houses of Commons and Lords can tackle it all – even if they sat 24/7 and through the recesses (holidays).
Acts of Parliament dealing with major policy issues have to pass through the two Houses and rightly so to ensure proper scrutiny of new laws that affect us all.
But there’s a lot of other law - secondary or delegated legislation it is called - which is often uncontroversial but nevertheless needs to be examined before final approval by the relevant minister.
Last week, I had the privilege of sitting on a delegated legislation committee dealing with a small but important measure which many millions will enjoy the benefit of later this year.
The committee was considering the Draft Licensing Act 2003 (Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Licensing Hours) Order 2016 – to give its full title – and the clue as what this is about is in the title.
As it did during the last World Cup, for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and before that the Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, the Government wants to relax the licensing laws to extend the opening hours of pubs and clubs for the weekend of the Queen’s 90th birthday.
The 2003 Act – a major piece of legislation subjected to the fullest parliamentary scrutiny – makes provision for a special licensing hours order for occasions of “exceptional, international, national or local significance” and that’s exactly what we decided this special milestone was all about.
The committee considered the proposal – or statutory instrument to give it its proper title – and it was approved unanimously by Conservative and Opposition MPs (a rare and welcome occurrence!)
The draft order will now be signed by the minister and allow licensed premises to open two hours longer “for the sale of alcohol and provision of late night refreshment” on June 10 and 11 so that this great national celebration can continue into the night.
The order will apply throughout the country and save pubs, clubs and organisations the £21 cost of applying for an individual premises licence extension. A similar order made for the Diamond Jubilee is estimated to have saved businesses, charities and voluntary bodies between £240-480,000.
It was a great honour to make a contribution to the passage of legislation which will help the nation mark this important national occasion.
BY all accounts, the Tour de Yorkshire was a triumph. Unfortunately, a longstanding engagement kept me away last Sunday but friends and colleagues have told me what a tremendous effort was made by the communities the race passed through.
Despite the rain there was a real sense of excitement and everyone coming together – in Northallerton, Stokesley, Great Ayton and Hutton Rudby and the other smaller communities the race passed through.
All those who helped make it happen deserve our thanks. The event will have been a huge economic boost for the area.