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Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall speak briefly to the amendment as I believe that I had something to do with the amendment to which the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, referred, during the passage of the Civil Contingencies Act. We were doing all in our power to curb some of what we believed to be the draconian powers being introduced by the Government. It was fortunate that when we brought forward a similar amendment with this kind of procedure, the House was full of those wishing to protect the fox, in the form of the Hunting Bill. It is rather amusing that some of the freedoms of this country have been protected because noble Lords were here to vote on the Hunting Bill and went through the Lobbies to vote in our favour on the Civil Contingencies Bill as well. There are concerns that reserving the list of behaviour to regulation could lead to offences being inappropriately designated. There is a problem here—even the affirmative resolution procedure is a blunt tool for legislative scrutiny, as it does not allow amendment to propose regulations. I gather there is some difficulty with debating this amendment; it is something to do with our conventions being considered at this time. Therefore, I do not believe that we are in a position to take this amendment much further this evening. That said, I will be interested to hear whether the Minister is able to respond in any way.