Clause 20 - Code of practice
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
12:00 pm
Oliver Heald (Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs & Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Assisted By Shadow Solicitor General), Constitutional Affairs; North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
I have been listening to the point that the Minister was making. I wonder whether subsection (4) does not provide some sort of remedy. It seems to be saying that the court or tribunal dealing with a breach of duty by a company would be able to take account of the way in which the regulatory function had been exercised in deciding how to deal with the case. Does that not mean that it would be possible for the court to make a quite penal decision on costs against the regulator? If so—if the regulator had to pay not just his own costs but those of the person victimised or treated in the wrong way—that would be at least some movement in the right direction. Is that what the Minister had in mind?