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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Amendment No. 79 was originally part of a larger group of amendments, and I shall reflect that by providing some background. It is right to remind ourselves what the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee said in general about the procedures issue, which is clearly the backdrop. It concluded in its report that the powers in the Bill were not inappropriate, and it has expressed broad support for the procedures for scrutinising orders set out in the Bill. On the mechanism for determining the appropriate procedure for orders, it concluded: "““The bill is clear that it is Parliament, not the Minister, which has the final say on what the procedure is to be””." It agreed also that it is appropriate that the Bill contained provision to allow the House to overturn a recommendation of its committee. It found, "““it is right that a committee’s recommendation that an order should not proceed…should have the consequence of preventing further proceedings unless and until the House says otherwise””." That is a sound principle. That provides the backdrop to the amendment, which seeks to prevent any order made under Part 1 being delivered by the negative resolution procedure if it amends or repeals existing primary legislation. It would remove the option of the negative resolution procedure for orders. The very purpose of the order-making power in Clause 1 is to provide a vehicle for reducing or removing burdens imposed by primary and secondary legislation, and most, if not all, orders made under Clause 1 will amend or repeal primary legislation. The Government believe that, where orders are evidently straightforward, it is right that there is the option of delivering them by a more proportionate procedure, subject of course to Parliament’s approval. As the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s report stated, the Bill is clear that it is Parliament and not the Minister, as I just said, which has the final say. The range of procedures provided for in the Bill is intended to encourage delivery of smaller or simpler proposals such as those seeking to reduce administrative burdens. One example is the Regulatory Reform (NHS Charitable and Non-Charitable Trust Accounts and Audit) Order 2005. That was delivered under the 2001 Act, and removed the unnecessary burden imposed by primary legislation on National Health Service charitable trusts of having to prepare two separate sets of accounts. That duplication was simply an anomaly. The order dealing with the anomaly was not complex and could have been adequately scrutinised under the negative or affirmative procedure. The amendment therefore imposes an unnecessary degree of inflexibility on the order-making process. Why do we need to put a very simple change, such as that which I have just given as an example, through the mill of an overly complex process when it is not controversial and where there is a very simple way of doing it? We need something that is appropriate and proportionate to the problem that it is dealing with; that is what the negative procedure can on occasion be. It is not our desired intent to circumvent parliamentary approval; I have made that quite clear. The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee has accepted that point. I cannot accept the amendment, although I understand the noble Lord’s caution and reason for moving it. I hope that he will reflect on those points before considering his next step.