Clause 5 - Preliminary consultation
Regulatory Reform Bill [Lords]
5:30 pm
Mr Richard Page (South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
The amendments are all of a piece. Clause 5 allows Ministers wide discretion in the preliminary stages of the consultation process. The amendments make the consultation procedures more specific. Amendment No. 16 requires a consultation of organisations that have interests substantially affected by proposals. Amendment No. 17 refers to statutory bodies that might be affected, and amendment No. 20 refers to the consultation of other persons, as appropriate.
As currently drafted, clause 5 gives the Minister control in each case, as it appears to him. I find that a shade arrogant. The amendments are part of a pattern: the determination of Opposition Members to loosen the tight grip of the Executive's fingers from around the throat of regulation. Controls should not be placed back into the hands of the Executive. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that there is regulatory reform, not to tell the people who created the regulation in the first place that they can still control the process.
There must be a letting-go and an opening-up. I therefore ask the Committee to look at the reality. What is actually going to happen when this part of the process takes place? Who will put forward the names of the various individuals and bodies that are to be asked for their views? It will be Department officials. Who created the regulations that will be scrutinised in the first place? It will be those same officials. I appeal for a more democratic approach to the consultation process.
If the Minister is minded to accept amendment No. 20, I suggest that he considers whether he and the Government will be protected against challenges from bodies that he may have decided not to consult. They may have been missed from the list; civil servants and officials may not have wanted the Minister to draw them forward for their views. If he were to accept the amendment, will he and the Government be free of any challenges from those bodies that had not been drawn forward?
I find it slightly disappointing that the Government are using their massive majority every time to sweep aside any amendments that are tabled. We are trying to improve the Bill. Our amendments were tabled not for party political gain or to promote dogma, but to try to reduce the burdens on the poor, struggling people—