Clause 12 - Orders under section 33 of the WRA, etc
Water Bill [Lords]
5:00 pm
Mr Elliot Morley (Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
We considered clause 12 when we dealt with amendments Nos. 27 and 28. Amendment No. 26 would remove provisions that are needed satisfactorily to deal with the revocation of existing exemption orders. For example, the amendment fails to recognise the need for powers in primary legislation to allow the Secretary of State to protect waters in England, if the National Assembly for Wales repealed an exception order in Wales, because there might be a knock-on impact. If those provisions were not contained in primary legislation, an equivalent provision would need to be made separately in each order to remove the 12 existing exemption orders and one local Act. It is therefore appropriate that provisions dealing with the revocation of existing exemption orders are in the Bill.