Committee (9th Day)

Part of Public Bodies Bill [HL] – in the House of Lords at 6:30 pm on 9 March 2011.

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Photo of Baroness Andrews Baroness Andrews Labour 6:30, 9 March 2011

My Lords, perhaps I may press the noble Lord on one point. I am very appreciative of what he said in his response about Clause 8, but the example he gave of what the powers would be used for was interesting. The example related to the British Waterways Board's transfer from the public sector to the charitable sector. The list of 14 bodies in Schedule 5 involves very specific uses of powers. Given the mystery-and, frankly, slightly sinister nature-of Clause 5, which we have addressed in different ways, can the Minister publish some sort of schedule that identifies the powers to be used in relation to those bodies? I do not think that that would be onerous, although it would certainly have been onerous if Clause 11 and Schedule 7 had survived. That would go a long way to meeting our concerns. I do not speak on the committee's behalf, but I suspect that such a schedule would help the committee and those who will read and use the legislation-as well as the public bodies listed in the Bill.