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Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

My Lords, these amendments in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, and the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, give me an opportunity to remind the House briefly of the intentions behind Clause 11. Before that, I should refer to Amendment No. 24 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Cope. His amendment gives me an opportunity to give further assurances about how the Government expect the advisory role of LBRO to operate in practice. The noble Lord raised an important point in Committee in relation to its ability to offer advice to the Government, not only on the existing legislation enforced by local authorities but on proposals in the pipeline. Clearly, LBRO will have considerable expertise to offer and the Government could get just as much benefit, if not more, from advice on legislation in development. We share the noble Lord’s view that LBRO should be able to advise on this. We consider the provision in Clause 9(1)(d), that LBRO may give advice on, "““any other matter relating to the exercise by local authorities in England and Wales of their relevant functions””," would be sufficient legal basis for LBRO to offer advice on legislative proposals. To put the matter beyond doubt, let me say that the amendment of the noble Lord is helpful and that, if he will withdraw it tonight, we will come back on Third Reading with words that I suspect will be very similar to what he has proposed—they might be a little different. We are grateful to him and will certainly consider his amendment. Turning to the amendments in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, I can give her the agreement that she wanted. That is not to accept the amendments but to agree that, in her phrase, ““more limited intervention”” is what we are trying to achieve here, rather than what she fears. I want to make it clear that the provisions in Clause 11 will not prevent councils from giving due regard to their own priorities. These can be given equal—or even greater—weight than the national priorities when it comes to planning their operations and how resources are allocated. The clause is intended purely to give some order and discipline to the way in which the centre sets priorities for local authorities. I would have quoted the Rogers report in more detail to answer the noble Baroness, but I can give her what I hope she wanted to hear from me, which is that she is right in thinking that we are in favour of more limited intervention and that this would not somehow undermine local authorities’ rights. The noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, wants us to agree that LBRO should publish the names of anyone who makes representations, pursuant to its preparation of a list of regulatory priorities. I am going to argue again that LBRO should have the flexibility to, where appropriate, withhold the details of those who made representations, not least because the publication of personal data may—and I use that word advisedly—in some circumstances fall foul of the Data Protection Act principles. This duty would require disclosure of the names of anybody making representation in all cases and could give rise, if it fell foul of that Act, to actionable breaches where there is a duty of confidentiality in any particular case. Representations may not simply be formal lobbying activities. LBRO is likely, in practice, to follow the example of Peter Rogers when he conducted the first review of regulatory priorities last year and to hold a number of workshops and focus groups with the public, regulators and businesses. Under this amendment, the names of all those involved would need to be published. That would not be appropriate. In practice, LBRO is likely to want to publish the names in many cases. This is good practice, as when the Government published most of the names and responses of those who responded to the consultation on the Bill, but we do not believe that it should be a requirement. The same rules should apply as to any other consultation that might impact on government policy. We understand the noble Lord’s concern that undue influence might be brought to bear on LBRO’s activity and that the light of publicity might help to eradicate this. Let me give what further reassurance I can. LBRO alone cannot and will not take the final decision that will put the priorities into effect. Under Clause 11(7), the consent of the Secretary of State is needed before the priorities become statutory priorities. The Secretary of State will expect to see a logically argued case based on clear evidence before LBRO’s recommendations are accepted. This is what the representation requirement is meant to capture. The hidden influence of individual bodies alone would not be sufficient to sway the final decision. Therefore, I am afraid that we cannot accept the noble Lord’s amendment.