Clause 63
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [Lords]
10:00 am
Pat McFadden (Minister of State (Employment Relations and Postal Affairs), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Wolverhampton South East, Labour)
The clause is about guidance, and again the provisions are important. We are significantly changing the range of options available to regulators and the use of civil sanctions, and it is important that there is proper guidance on that.
The clause says that where the power to impose a civil sanction is conferred on a regulator
“the provision conferring the power must secure the results in subsection (2).”
That means that the regulator must publish guidance about its use of the sanction, that the guidance must contain the relevant information and that the regulator must revise it where appropriate, consult such persons as the provision may specify and have regard to the guidance or revised guidance in exercising its function.
On what we might call the penalty guidance, subsections (3) to (5) set out the specific requirements that the guidance must meet in relation to fixed penalties, discretionary requirements and stop notices. For example, regulators will be required to include details of how the penalties will be imposed and of those matters likely to be taken into consideration in determining the level of a variable monetary penalty.
We have talked about the powers and the need for consultation in putting together an order to confer them, but guidance on how those powers are to operate in practice is an equally important part of the regime, and that is covered in clause 63.