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Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 11: 11: Clause 5, page 3, line 38, leave out ““only”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the amendment seeks to take out the word ““only”” from the provision that, "““regulatory activities should be targeted only at cases in which action is needed””." We debated the clause in Committee, where I was concerned to understand the difference between acting proportionately, which is required in the same clause, and targeting. During that debate the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, said that he thought that ““only”” was incorrect, and that it, "““seems not to provide the kind of protection for consumers and others that””,—[Official Report, 21/1/08; col. GC 39.]" had been spelt out previously. I think that he was right. Rereading the clause, it seemed that targeting ““only””, if it is not tautologous, is very close to being tautologous and it is too tight. The noble Lord, Lord Whitty, asked the Minister to have another look at the risk-based approach to regulation and suggested that the matter could be expressed ““slightly more subtly””. This is not a very subtle amendment but, nevertheless, I hope that it may give the Government an opportunity to argue the case again. I beg to move.