Clause 15
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [Lords]
12:15 pm
Pat McFadden (Minister of State (Employment Relations and Postal Affairs), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Wolverhampton South East, Labour)
Part 1 specifies two distinct direction-giving powers. The first, which we have discussed, is LBRO’s right to give local authorities directions to comply with guidance under clause 7. The amendments deal with the second power, which relates to a Minister’s right to give directions to LBRO. It is intended as a reserve power. LBRO needs to be independent, but as the hon. Gentleman rightly said on an earlier point, Ministers remain accountable to Parliament for its work. If we found ourselves in a situation where LBRO was acting against the public interest, we would need to exercise such a power. It is unlikely that the power will be used, but it is perhaps prudent to have it in case it is needed.
The issue was included in response to a recommendation by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. The Committee drew attention to the potential uses to which the two directional powers could be put in combination. It was concerned that Ministers could direct LBRO to direct multiple local authorities and that that would give the power a quasi-legislative character. It felt that the issue needed to be dealt with and recommended that parliamentary scrutiny be applied where LBRO used its directions for more than one local authority and where Ministers had instructed it to do so. Following amendments to implement those recommendations, both can be done only with parliamentary approval. Ministers are unlikely to use their direction-giving power in the sense that I have set out, but a safeguard should be in place.
I hope that clarifies that, in phrasing the clause in the way that we have, we are responding to concerns raised by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.