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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Here we come to the question of what regulatory reform orders are likely to be used for. My hon. Friend is right—there is a Budget and a Finance Bill every year precisely for the purposes of making changes to taxation. Several hon. Members asked for examples of what the Bill will allow us to do. One example is that of the Charity Commission deregulation, which was undertaken to review the financial thresholds at which certain registration requirements are asked for. Others may include simplifying some transactions with Government, consolidating areas of overlapping legislation, Hampton mergers of regulatory bodies, and streamlining overlapping consent regimes. For instance, the Department of Health wishes to remove a consent regime introduced in the Health Act 1999 because it has proved ineffective, and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister undertook to consider proposals for reviewing, repealing and modifying numerous consent regimes with a view to removing burdens on the NHS, local authorities and others.