Clause 8 - Rights to abstract small quantities
Water Bill [Lords]
3:30 pm
Mr Norman Baker (Lewes, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman is being unduly modest, as I do not think that he has made a mistake. In my experience, Members who are accused of making heinous mistakes are often proved to be right when the Government subsequently introduce rafts of amendments.
The subsection is an odd formulation. We are invited to imagine a situation in which the Secretary of State tells the agency to make an application, which the Secretary of State presumably considers carefully before—lo and behold—deciding to accede to the request. When a parliamentary question is tabled to ask why he has acted like that, he answers, ''I was responding to a request from the Environment Agency.'' That is probably why the provision is drafted as it is.
I recommend amendment No. 181, which deals with the points that have been raised by both the hon. Member for Leominster and myself. It would also remove the power of the Secretary of State to direct the agency. Yet again, we are seeing the centre putting a finger into all the pies. Surely the practical judgment about whether variation is required should be made by the agency. It is the body set up to monitor such matters, and it knows whether there is a problem in a particular geographical area, such as a river basin. It should be able to advise the Secretary of State on whether there should be a change to the arrangements.
How can the Secretary of State, sitting in an office in London, tell the agency that there is a problem in Dorset and that it should apply to him for an order? Why does he need the power to direct the agency? It is entirely unnecessary. The legislation would be much improved by amendment No. 181, which would delete the second part of the subsection.