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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

We had some of this debate and discussion on an earlier amendment. I take the point that this is a probing amendment. What I think I said then was that there might be instances where burdens were greater on the regulator than on the regulated, and that given there is a risk-based system, those of a higher risk might well have a greater regulatory burden imposed on them than the lighter risk regulated sector, which would have rather less onerous burdens placed on it because it was of a lower risk. In essence, that is how burdens might be shifted as a consequence. If we had the inflexibility in the legislation which the noble Lord suggests through his amendment, that could have a serious impact on the Bill. Amendment No. 7 would make orders under Clause 1 very similar to those under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994, with which I am sure the noble Lord is very familiar. They did not allow the imposition of new burdens. That led to a significant limitation of the reforms that could be delivered under that Act. Orders under the 2001 Act could, and did, impose new—but, we would argue—proportionate burdens. The amendment would constrain flexibility. It would not enable us to shift regulatory burdens where it was sensible, possible and proportionate to do so. It could end up by providing us with a legislative straitjacket. To make the problem a bit more real, I give the example of a business that is currently inspected five times a year for its compliance with a regulation. The amendment would prevent an order removing that requirement and replacing it with a requirement for the business to carry out self-assessment once a year, which is of course a lower and lighter order of regulation, as that would be a burden to which the business was not previously subject. For those reasons, in practical terms, Amendment No. 7 is very damaging to the Bill. It would prevent us achieving what I think there is a common consensus that we need to achieve: to have the burden of regulation placed where it is most needed in a proportionate way to enable us to have a lighter regime of regulation in those sectors of business activity, charitable endeavour, and so on. I hope that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw the amendment.