Clause 34 - Notification by scrap metal dealers of destruction of motor vehicles
Vehicles (Crime) Bill
10:00 am
Mr John Bercow (Buckingham, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 80, in page 19, line 8, leave out `may' and insert `shall'.
I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Sayeed, and we look forward to good constructive progress in the course of today's proceedings. Clause 34 concerns information requirements. Specifically, it requires notification by scrap metal dealers of the destruction of motor vehicles. My hon. Friends and I believe that the clause is inadequately drafted because it is permissive rather than prescriptive, and it seems to us that it should be prescriptive.
We are concerned about the extent of regulation, and the burgeoning phenomenon of delegated legislation across a wide field of public policy. We object to the fact that frequently, such regulations are not debated in the House. They can subsequently have an effect that was not anticipated, and would not have received the approval of hon. Members. That process should be arrested, and reversed wherever possible.
The proposal is curious in that it seems to contain hesitancy and uncertainty. It is not clear to us why the clause cannot be more robustly worded to give a clear indication of Government intent. As in so many other features of the Bill—[Interruption.]—despite the sedentary chuntering of he who should be silent, the hon. Member for Hyndburn (Mr. Pope), the clause leaves open the possibility that the Secretary of State might do something, but equally admits of the possibility that he, or as the case may be, she, might not do something. There seems little point in having legislation—and, specifically, the clause—if it is not to be prescriptive.
After all, this is not a question of looking into the crystal ball; we can read the book. We know that there are to be notification requirements. We can readily anticipate the sorts of requirements that will need to be imposed, so it is not clear to me why the word should be ``may'' rather than ``shall''. The provision is in that sense similar to clause 8, on motor salvage operators. The owner must ensure that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is notified of the destruction of motor vehicles so that they may not be re-registered. Thus, in a sense, the measure is supposed to reduce crime.
I have read and re-read the clause several times, but it is not clear to me why it specifies that the Secretary of State ``may'' make regulations. Either the Government are committed to the reduction of vehicle crime or they are not. The Government say that they are. They have a ``challenging'' target. Challenging is a word in popular parlance, as you will have discovered, Mr. Sayeed—we have even found Labour Back Benchers using it themselves in debates.