Clause 5 - Preliminary consultation
Regulatory Reform Bill [Lords]
5:45 pm
Mr Richard Page (South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
The hon. Lady brings a touching innocence to the Committee, which I find refreshing. As my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire said, sotto voce, ``Don't hold your breath for the acceptance of any amendments.''
The amendments aim to create a better balance and to give people the freedom to bring forward views and make representations. At the moment, those people will be restricted to lists that appear to the Minister to be representative of the various bodies that are affected by the proposals. Those lists were produced by the officials who were responsible for the problems of regulatory burdens in the first place and are the reason why the whole matter is being considered.
Can the Minister give me two assurances? First, especially in respect of individual representatives, are the Government leaving themselves open to challenges under human rights legislation by anyone who feels that they are being denied an opportunity because the Minister is not minded to include them on the list? Secondly, is an organisation or body that has not managed to catch the ministerial eye so as to get on the list able to mount a legal challenge in order to do so, or will it be frozen out for ever?
The hon. Member for Peterborough (Mrs. Brinton) has given the Minister a lead-in to show that he can be flexible in terms of accepting amendments, and I look forward to his reply.