Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
10:30 am
Jim Murphy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Cabinet Office; East Renfrewshire, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1)during proceedings on the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill the Standing Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting on Tuesday 28th February at 10.30 am) meet on—
(a)Tuesday 28th February at 4,00 pm;
(b)Thursday 2nd March at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm;
(c)Tuesday 7th March at 10.30 am and 4.00 pm;
(d)Thursday 9th March at 9.00 am and 1.00 pm;
(2)the proceedings on the Bill shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 4.00 pm on Thursday 9th March.
I understand that I am allowed to make some general points at the start of our deliberations. I start, Sir Nicholas, by welcoming you as co-Chairman, a role that you share with Mr. Caton. I think that that is the correct way to put it; I do not want to create any sort of hierarchy between you. I served previously under your chairmanship when I had the role of Government Whip, currently performed by my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda).
I welcome hon. Members from all parts of the House to the Committee. I know from discussions that I have had, and from the deliberations of the Programming Sub-Committee yesterday, that there is a genuine desire to have a detailed discussion about all aspects of the Bill, and I am happy to enter into that. If the spirit of yesterday evening’s discussions is anything to go by, I think that we shall have a high-quality debate.
There are no knives in the programme motion. That is because the Government want to allow the debate to be free-ranging, within your strictures, of course, Sir Nicholas. We believe that there will be ample time in eight sittings to consider the detail of the Bill and I understand from the usual channels that there is no disquiet about the number of Committee sittings, and that the fact that there are no knives has been welcomed.
The Bill builds on the Regulatory Reform Act 2001. It aims to deliver on the Government’s agenda of better regulation. As part of that, however, we need to ensure through our deliberations in these eight sittings that there is a correct level of effective parliamentary scrutiny. Ultimately, however, the Bill is intended to maintain the UK’s competitiveness, free up public sector workers and others from bureaucracy, and remove unnecessary regulation. It has already been discussed with the Regulatory Reform Committee and with the Procedure Committee. In light of the substantial discussion in advance of the Bill’s introduction, and the discussion of its detail, together with the broad agreement on the number of sittings and the fact that there are no knives, I hope that the Opposition parties will not press a division on the motion.