Mark Prisk (Shadow Minister, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Hertford & Stortford, Conservative)

The clause is an interesting addendum to what we have been talking about. Subsection (1) states:

“LBRO may do anything it considers appropriate for the purpose of supporting the primary authority”.

That is quite a wide statement and, while we do not want to be nonsensical, given that it is in the Bill and we are dealing with an unaccountable, non-departmental public body, it is questionable whether it should be able to do anything that it regards as appropriate. There is no requirement, for example, for the LBRO to act in a proportionate fashion. The clause does not say that it should act in an open and transparent manner. It would therefore help if the Minister clarified matters.

I am worried because it feels as though the clause has been inserted quickly and without due consideration. That feeling is reinforced by the fact that, having given us large, sweeping potential power under subsection (1), the clause suddenly realises that it may have gone a bit far, and suddenly we get subsection (2), which says, “Oh, and that includes making grants”. There is the impression that the clause has not entirely been thought through. I hope that the hon. Gentleman can reassure me about that.

Fine, I accept that the LBRO has the power to make grants. On what basis? For how much? Where will it work? What will the grants pay for? The clause is not well drafted. It gives a wide, sweeping range of examples and then someone has tacked in grants at the back of it as an afterthought. It does not feel like a coherent thought. I should be interested to know what the Minister believes would not be appropriate, so that we can understand how far the LBRO can extend itself.

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