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Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 49:"Page 63, line 2, at end insert ““, and" (e)   (except for section 36(2)) any other provision of this Act so far as it— (i)   confers power to make an order or regulations, or (ii)   defines any expression relevant to the exercise of any such power. Subsections (2)(b) and (3) to (6) have effect subject to paragraph (e).”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, Government Amendment No. 49 commences all provisions in the Bill containing regulation and order-making powers, including any definitions relevant to the exercise of any such powers on Royal Assent. I originally tabled this amendment in Grand Committee, but my noble friend Lady Royall agreed to withdraw it in order to give absent friends—if I may put it that way—the opportunity to hear the explanation at Report stage. There is a convention that the provisions of an Act of Parliament should not normally be commenced until at least two months after Royal Assent. The purpose of the convention is to ensure that those who are affected by a legislative change have sufficient advance warning of that change in legislation to be able to adjust their behaviour accordingly. This is conducive both to ensuring that the law is applied in a fair way and to preserving legal certainty. In this respect, the Health Bill will be no exception, with Clause 83(1) setting out just a few technical provisions that are needed mainly to make the Act, which will come into force on Royal Assent, work. The provisions in Clause 74, on ““Transfer of criminal liabilities””, will also come into force on Royal Assent, as it is entirely in the public interest for there to be no undue delay in the provisions taking legal effect. However, the Government’s view is that the commencement of regulation-making powers, either on Royal Assent or shortly after, does not breach the convention, provided that the coming into force date of the regulations does not fall within the two-month period governed by the convention. It is only when the regulations come into force that they have any legal effect. As I am sure the House will appreciate, it is often desirable to be able to make regulations well in advance of the main provisions of an Act coming into force. For example, in relation to the smoke-free regulations permitted under Part 1, Chapter 1, it is clearly in the interests of industry to have sight of the final content of the regulations as far in advance of the summer 2007 implementation/coming-into-force date as is possible. It would, therefore, make no sense if regulations were ready to go, but could not be made or, in the case of any affirmative regulations, scrutinised by Parliament, until two months after Royal Assent. That would be to no one’s benefit. The Bill, as currently drafted, would already allow us to commence such regulation-making powers early through the laying of separate commencement orders—in other words, orders that simply switched on the powers to make regulations in advance of the main provisions being commenced. However, we believe that such an approach would be unnecessarily bureaucratic and unhelpful to the reader of the Act, who would be required to search out extra commencement orders which did nothing apart from switch on regulation-making powers. Amendment No. 49, therefore, automatically ““switches on”” all regulation and order-making powers within the Bill on Royal Assent. We believe that this is a much less bureaucratic approach than going down the route of individual commencement orders and will provide greater clarity to the Act. Of course, in line with the convention, any regulations would not have a coming-into-force date sooner than two months after Royal Assent. Given that no one stands to gain anything from the switching on of regulation-making powers through separate commencement orders, we have decided to try to apply the amendment to all subordinate legislation within the Bill, with the exception of Clause 36(2). The Scottish Executive have indicated their wish to retain control over when that provision is commenced. It is important to emphasise that the making of regulations is not the same as the coming-into-force date of regulations. The amendment does not permit us to do anything that we cannot already achieve through other means; it is simply about removing an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and providing greater clarity to the Act, as the reader would not be required to search out extra commencement orders which did nothing more than switch on regulation-making powers. Finally, it is also worth adding that a similar provision was included in the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003. I am not sure why we did not include such a provision in the Bill from the outset, but it is before us now, and with the explanation that I have given at some length, because noble Lords were concerned about the matter, I hope that noble Lords will support the amendment. I beg to move.