Clause 21 - Scope of emergency regulations
Civil Contingencies Bill
2:45 pm
Ms Fiona Mactaggart (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Race Equality, Community Policy and Civil Renewal), Home Office; Slough, Labour)
This is odd legislation because it is designed to be used in extraordinary circumstances. It covers civil contingencies, so one would expect it to have some peculiarities that would not necessarily be as important in legislation that does not provide such substantial powers. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that this is not the way we usually go about legislation, but it is important because the Bill, which deals with contingencies, short-circuits to some degree the usual democratic process. It is important that the circumstances in which that might happen are as clear as possible in advance. That is why we have taken that approach.
It might be worth recalling that in the draft legislation—the Bill has changed substantially since—there was a provision to protect political, administrative or economic stability. Following pre-legislative scrutiny that was discarded, precisely because we recognised that that in itself would not constitute the sort of emergency during which it would be proper to use such powers. Nevertheless, the Government felt that disruption to financial services
payments processing could have a significant effect on human welfare by affecting the availability of essential services and resources. It is appropriate that emergency powers should be available if their disruption is damaging to human welfare. Hon. Members will recall that the Government in their response to the Joint Committee report gave some examples. The example on page 8 states:
''if a terrorist attack on the City of London constituted a threat of serious damage to human welfare, and it was necessary to make emergency regulations''—
that is part of the triple lock to which we have frequently referred—
''the Government considers that it should be possible (where it was necessary to do so and in due proportion)''—
the triple lock again—
''to declare a bank holiday so as to protect the interests of financial institutions.''
That is one example of the sort of way in which the provision might operate.