Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I welcome back the Bill officials, Simon Webb and Mark Allison. We have some questions and queries arising from our closed session. Hopefully, we have moved forward a few steps.

The Senior Assistant Assembly Clerk: During the closed session, a few queries arose for officials. May we have a timeline of when we will be able to have sight of the amendments that have already been proposed? Will the Committee receive them before the end of Committee Stage?

There was also a query about the commencement of the clauses. The Bill states that clauses 29, 30 and 31 will all come into operation at the same time. Will all the other clauses commence at the same time or come into effect at different times?

In your response to the Committee on 17 April about the multiple maintenance notices, you said that you had sought further advice on whether each subsequent maintenance notice carried with it the option to discharge liability for conviction through a fresh fixed penalty. Has any response been received about that?

Mr Simon Webb (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): We will need to consider the timeline for the amendments initially, after which we will determine whether we need to get some further advice. If we require further advice, it will take slightly longer. If we do not require further advice, we could have that closed off next week. If it is a case of waiting for advice, however, we may require an extra one to two weeks.

The reason for the potential different timescales for the commencement of clauses is to ensure that we have all our ducks in a row. We will have to have the draft statutory guidance and the fees regulations ready so that they can come into force immediately after the Bill receives Royal Assent. We want to bring everything in at the same time so that there are no gaps and that everything dovetails.

On the maintenance notice issue, we got advice back about fixed penalty notices. Our expectation is that the Minister will table an amendment to enable the fixed penalty to discharge liability for conviction up to the day on which the penalty is paid. That would leave councils with the option to pursue matters further where there has been continued non-compliance with the maintenance notice, so if it continues to be in breach.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): OK. Are you happy enough with that, Glenda?

The Senior Assistant Assembly Clerk: Yes.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): No members have any other queries for you.

You mentioned two weeks: that would be a critical point for the Committee. We are making reasonable progress with the Bill, in that we are now up to clause 20. That is not to say that we have gone through the previous clauses perfectly, because further clarification is required on a couple of them. We are, however, well into our deliberations. Part of the responsibility for ensuring that we have that information rests with you guys.

There is nothing else to be raised with the departmental officials at this stage.

Simon and Mark, are you content with the communication from the Committee?

Mr Webb: Yes.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): OK. Thank you very much for your time today.