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Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

I speak to Amendments No. 71 and 74 tabled by my noble and learned friend Lord Lyell of Markyate. As he has expressed them, his amendments would remove the appeal to a tribunal and return the situation to the status quo, which is the jurisdiction of the magistrates' courts and the county courts. We seek clarification from the Government as to exactly how and to whom an appeal will be made and whether there will be further level of appeal; for example, to a second-tier tribunal or to the Court of Appeal. I expect the Government to explain that in some detail. We also must know on whom rests the burden of proof before the tribunal. Can the tribunal substitute no penalty or any level of penalty it considers just, or can it increase the penalty? Those are questions that must be answered before we can even start to consider the Government’s proposals for this part. The Government may be content to give a fairly lofty view, but we all know that the rudimentary mechanics are often the very things that determine how a scheme works or does not.