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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

My Lords, I support the amendments. I raised similar points in Committee. For the reasons the noble Baroness has given, I was conscious of the regulators’ concern about the possibility of the challenge of litigation in pursuing particular functions—for example, when they are investigating an offence. That might cause considerable problems. I was also aware of the concern about making the code statutory. I sought to raise these concerns in Committee; unfortunately, my drafting was either so clumsy—or possibly so subtle—that the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, was not quite sure what I was getting at and we did not get the response that might have been appropriate at that stage. The noble Baroness has tabled amendments which are clearer, better drafted and get at the point and, as she indicated, they demand a fairly full response from the Government. I fully support the case she has advanced.