Clause 5 - Vehicles
Health Bill
10:35 am
Andrew Murrison (Shadow Minister, Health; Westbury, Conservative)
I hope that my intentions will be made plainer this time. I suspect that the Minister will say that the parliamentary draftsmen have insisted on using “may”, but I follow the argument made by the hon. Member for Northavon (Steve Webb). We have said throughout our deliberations that far too many powers are granted under regulation by the Bill, and that we would like to see more written into the Bill itself. However, we are quite clearly not going to get that. It would be good to hear what the Minister had in mind for the regulations that she may—or will—introduce, under the powers that she will have as a result of the Bill. It would be helpful if the Minister—as she has at other times during our proceedings—set out the situations that she sees as being the subject of regulation.
So while we are not going to get too hung up on “may” or “shall”, we certainly understand the concerns expressed by the hon. Member for Northavon, and we look forward to the Minister’s response.