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Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

Before the noble Baroness withdraws her amendment, I suggest that the difficulty may be in the use of the word ““functions””. That is an extremely wide word. After all, the functions in the schedule include the powers of direction, and so on—quite fierce powers, ordering things to happen. The Bill does not say that they have to be delegated to another quango—or rather, to another agency of government. The Minister mentioned the Environment Agency, for example, which will be relevant in cases such as the one he mentioned. This paragraph, however, would allow the powers to be delegated to absolutely anyone—to me, for instance. I am not for a moment supposing that the LBRO would think that appropriate, although you never know, but it could delegate those powers to all sort of bodies, trade bodies or whatever. We know that the LBRO is not a quango; the Minister said at Second Reading that it was not, because it was temporary and would be wound up. Does that make it a ““tango””? The power to delegate enforcement functions, including the power to direct, is very wide. Perhaps the Minister should think about the word ““functions”” and see whether that needs limiting a little.