---

Planning Bill

moved Amendment No. 130: 130: Clause 199, page 114, line 25, at end insert— ““(5) Regulations under this section shall be made in accordance with section 214(2).”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, this amendment is in my name and that of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. The first two amendments in this group, Amendments Nos. 130 and 149, address the issue of whether regulations made under Part 11, dealing with CIL, should be approved by both Houses of Parliament or only by another place, which is what is proposed in the Bill. Amendment No. 130 is a paving amendment; the substantive amendment is Amendment No. 149, which we will come to eventually, but we intend to debate the issue on this amendment. I moved much the same amendment in Committee. At the end of a long Thursday sitting on the Bill, there were very few noble Lords in the House. Nevertheless, my amendment then had support from all parts of the House, and I was encouraged to return to the attack. In Committee, I drew attention to the important report of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. I am delighted to see its chairman, the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, in his place today; it is valuable that we shall have the benefit of his advice on this. Briefly, the DPRC recommended that the power to approve CIL regulations should be the subject of control of both Houses. The Government had argued that the imposition of a charge was a matter for the financial privilege of the House of Commons. There are, however, two important arguments against this. The first is that the Committee pointed out that under earlier legislation some aspects of existing charges are subject to the procedure of both Houses. They listed national insurance, council tax, business rates, the business improvement district levy, the climate change levy and a couple of others. Why is CIL different? Why does it not follow the same pattern as those earlier charges? It is not paid into the Consolidated Fund or any similar fund. It is spent by the body which raises the charge. The second argument is more procedural. It is not for this House, or indeed for the Government, to assert financial privilege on behalf of another place. That is a matter solely for the other place. That is clear from the first two sentences of the Companion to the Standing Orders. I quote paragraph 7.173: "““Each House of Parliament is guardian of its own privileges. It alone may invoke them””." If Part 11 were like a Finance Bill or similar piece of legislation, we would not be entitled to table amendments; we would not be entitled to debate the Bill at all, except in a very general way. Yet we spent an entire day in Committee on CIL and we will spend most of the rest of today doing the same. If another place wishes to claim financial privilege, it is up to it. It is not the business either of the Government or of this House to do it for the other place. When the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, replied to the debate on October 23, she did so, if I may put it kindly, very briefly. She did not, however, attempt to reply to those two arguments but contented herself simply with reasserting the Government’s views that were put to the Delegated Powers Committee. Those views were firmly rejected by the Committee in its report. I look forward to listening to the speeches of noble Lords and in particular to what we shall hear from the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart. I beg to move.