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Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

moved Amendment No. 11: 11: Clause 42, page 29, line 17, after ““section”” insert— ““(a) shall be made by statutory instrument; and (b) ”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 12. I can be brief. The Secretary of State is required to make an order abolishing the post of Deputy Justice Minister three years after the devolution of policing and justice functions, unless the Assembly is resolved that it be abolished earlier than that, or that it is to be retained beyond that date. As drafted, the Bill makes such an order subject to the negative resolution procedure. However, the Select Committee on Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform considered the order-making power and observed that the circumstances specified in the Bill in which the Secretary of State shall act are matters of ascertainable fact, not of opinion, and that the timing, too, is preordained. In the consequent absence of any element of discretion for the Secretary of State, the committee argued that the negative procedure was unnecessary and, notwithstanding that this is a Henry VIII power, recommended no parliamentary procedure. We are content to accept the recommendation, and these amendments give effect to it. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to.