Clause 77
Equality Bill
5:15 pm
John Penrose (Shadow Minister, Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; Weston-Super-Mare, Conservative)
I hope that the amendments are entirely technical ones. I am relying on the Minister’s expert legal brain to solve the problem about which we are worried. As the notes explain, clause 77
“contains a power to make an Order in Council in relation to work on board offshore installations. The power may be used to apply Part 5 (with or without modification) to those working on such installations.”
The amendments would trim that power, so that it can no longer be used to apply part 5, with or without modification, but just without modification. Are the Government wedded to allowing part 5 to be applied with or without modifications? If so, will any legal limits be set to the extent of the modifications that can be proposed? I am sure that we are all happy to accept an assertion of the Minister’s good character and intentions, and so forth, and no doubt she would apply the provision responsibly, but it is important to bind future Ministers and to ensure that they do not have untrammelled powers that are not subject to parliamentary scrutiny. It is an entirely technical point on which I hope that she can reassure us.