Clause 30
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Mark Prisk (Shadow Minister, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Hertford and Stortford, Conservative)
I entirely agree that inspection plans have considerable merit. They provide what most businesses seek, namely, a degree of consistency, clarity and, most important, certainty—knowledge as to what they can expect, when they can expect the inspections and how they work from the business’s point of view. As the Minister describes, the fear is of not having been inspected at all and suddenly having three gentlemen or ladies with clipboards arrive within a week. First, it is immensely intrusive, and, secondly, it puts into the back of the mind the fear that, “Hang on, am I being targeted or do the three not talk to each other so we end up with this kind of nonsense?”
The purpose of the plan is right, but how prescriptive do the Government expect the plans to be? How far should the issues be detailed? Would the plan need to include a get-out clause, or an option to cover circumstances where something changes and there has to be a departure from the plan? Could the Minister clarify how the Government anticipate that it will work?