Clause 41 - Orders and regulations
Identity Cards Bill
9:45 am
Tony McNulty (Minister of State (Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality), Home Office; Harrow East, Labour)
I accept the points that the hon. and learned Gentleman makes; he has made them throughout our lengthy proceedings. I shall correct him only by saying that the provisions are stated clearly in green and black, rather than in white and black, but that is by the bye. I also congratulate the draftsperson on the phrase
“incidental, supplemental, consequential and transitional”,
because it has a nice flow to it if nothing else, and it vaguely resembles English.
The hon. and learned Gentleman is right that the clause is intended to embrace all the regulation and order-making powers that are needed in respect of an enabling Bill such as this. The provisions that he alights on in subsection (4) are largely about including the necessary degree of flexibility in the order-making powers so that they are not entirely rigid. Indeed, that is what the note that has kindly just been put before me says. I am reminded of the debates that we had about fees, and about those with an itinerant lifestyle, the elderly and the young.
I know that the clause is offensive to the hon. and learned Gentleman. I cannot do anything about that, but the flexibility that it contains is important in the context of the statutory instrument and order-making powers. Before the legislation receives Royal Assent, I shall seek as and when I can—there will clearly be a considerable commencement tail as everything will not unfold at the same time—to give as full a timetable as possible of when the regulations are likely to occur and, to the extent that it is in my power, to give either drafts of those orders or regulations or an outline of what they will entail as the commencement unrolls. I cannot be fairer than that.