---

Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I have made it clear that we are not changing the constitution and that we need to address issues such as these because they present burdens. The Game Act 1831 and the Game Licences Act 1860 impose burdens. The Government have committed to deal with those and so save businesses across the country tens of thousands of pounds. The reform is necessary because the 19th century regime is now clearly out of date as a result of economic, social and legislative changes. The Government also propose to deliver reform by order so that we can usefully tackle other issues such as game dealing licences that are required under the Act. To do so, it will be necessary to repeal the criminal offences associated with carrying out certain activities without the following licences: licences to take or kill game under the Game Act 1831 and the Game Licences Act 1860; licences to deal in game granted under Section 18 of the Game Act 1831, as extended by Section 13 of the Game Licences Act 1860; and excise licence under Section 14 of the Game Licenses Act 1860. Under the present Act it is possible to deliver this reform by order. It is the Government’s view that useful legislative reform such as the above, which reduces burdens on the regulated, but which is too small to merit a Bill should continue to be possible by order under the present Bill. The Bill also carries over the ability under the present Act, by order to replace sanctions with new sanctions or to create new sanctions. The fire safety regulatory reform order has attracted criticism and is an oft quoted example, but I shall use it again, though I am committed to undertaking further research on the subject. The RRO delivered under the 2001 Act is a good illustration of why it is necessary to deliver regulatory reform of a whole regime. As I said, the fire safety RRO delivered under the 2001 Act replaced a whole raft of legislation with one simple, risk-based fire safety regime, but it was necessary to replace the divergent systems of sanctions for non-compliance across 50 pieces of legislation. This was possible only because the Government were able to remove the burden created by the old sanctions for non-compliance and replace these with one harmonised, transparent, targeted and appropriate new system of sanctions. The Committee will, of course, be aware that Clause 7 restricts what orders can do in respect of criminal penalties: for example, orders cannot make provision to create a new offence that is punishable on indictment by more than two years’ imprisonment. This and further safeguards are in place governing the use of the order-making power, including its use to repeal or reduce sanctions, criminal or otherwise. The Minister making the order must be satisfied that the preconditions in Clause 4 are met: that the policy objective intended to be secured by the provision could not be satisfactorily secured by non-legislative means; that the effect of the provision is proportionate to the policy objective; that the provision taken as a whole strikes a fair balance between the public interest and the interests of any person adversely affected by it; that the provision does not remove any necessary protection; and that the provision does not prevent any person continuing to exercise any right or freedom which that person might reasonably expect to continue to exercise. As the Committee knows, relevant parliamentary committees will have the statutory power to veto any order. I hope that, having heard that explanation, Members of the Committee will not press Amendments Nos. 12, 13 and 14. Amendment No. 72, which stands in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, would delete the safeguard in Clause 7(1)(a) which ensures that an order may not make provision to create a new offence that is punishable, or increase the penalty for an existing offence so that it is punishable on indictment, with imprisonment for a term exceeding two years. This is an appropriate safeguard that would ensure that only sensible regulatory reform would be delivered by order. For those reasons I invite the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment. I believe that some time ago the noble Lord, Lord Peyton, asked what would be the effect of deleting the words ““or otherwise””. I assume that the noble Lord intended to ask what would be the effect of deleting the words ““criminal or otherwise””. If that were to happen, it would no longer be clear that non-criminal civil sanctions could be removed or reduced; in other words, a financial penalty imposed by a regulator, which is not a criminal fine. That would be the impact of the noble Lord’s amendment. I hope that I have answered the points that were raised. If I have not, I apologise to the Committee. This has been a very constructive debate and some valuable points have been made. Nevertheless, I urge that the relevant amendments are not pressed.