---

Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I am grateful to the Minister for his reply, which I will study with great care before later consideration of the Bill, but I am bound to say that, on the face of it, he seems to be trying to have his cake and eat it. On the one hand, he is taking credit for initiating regulatory impact analysis, which he claims that this Government have uniquely advanced, whereas, on the other hand, he is not prepared to consider the adverse deregulatory impact on others in equal detail or with equal precision. I do not doubt that the Minister has a point in saying that you might be comparing chalk and cheese, but you could not, if you objectively analysed the impact of the deregulatory burden, fail to determine whether the change was justified or unjustified in respect of whether it had a proportionate or disproportionate impact on a second group of people. Amendment No. 53 was directed at dealing with that issue, as it is not adequately dealt with by Clause 4(2)(c), which speaks only broadly of the ““public interest””. Consideration of the public interest is not something that necessarily safeguards a particular class of individuals who are potentially adversely affected by the proposed deregulation. However, as I said, I will consider carefully what the Minister said.