Clause 47
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Mark Prisk (Shadow Minister, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Hertford and Stortford, Conservative)
The amendment would change the current provision whereby a completion notice is issued within 14 days to within seven days of such an application. As we learnt in the debate on clause 46, stop notices are often used in urgent circumstances. The Minister referred to a possible chemical leak or something of that nature, and urgency is clearly at the heart of this form of sanction. Equally, it is often the case—in fact almost invariably—that compliance is evident. It is visible to the inspector and is usually fairly straightforward. In most circumstances, when one asks someone to stop doing something, it is reasonably straightforward to identify quickly that that has happened. Given that fact, 14 days seems a long period in which to issue a completion certificate. As I said, in most cases, it is fairly evident whether the activity has ceased.
When the situation is one of harm—the usual circumstances in which the stop notice is used—it is in the specific interests of the regulator to ensure that action is prompt as well. Therefore, there is a strong case for saying that 14 days is a very long period. That is why I think that seven days will be sufficient for the regulator to issue a completion certificate. Most cases involve attending a site, seeing that the activity or potential harm has been ceased, and thus being able to identify that directly.
I realise that there may be one or two incidents in which the regulator is not able to manage a particular series of incidents. However, those would be the exception. It is important that we send out the message that stop notices are for urgent issues and for ceasing specific activities. The regulator, therefore, should be able to issue the certificates in a similarly prompt manner. I hope the Minister will respond positively to an amendment that improves this part of the Bill.