My Lords, we on these Benches welcome the order and agree to it being approved. As both noble Lords mentioned, it has been before the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and has been extensively examined by the Commons Select Committee on Deregulation and Regulatory Reform. As the Minister noted, it is to come into effect on 1st April 2002, so there is not much time for implementation.

However, as the Minister also noted, it has been extensively discussed in a number of places. In some senses, it is an interesting initiative because it is the first time that we have seen the Regulatory Reform Act 2001 applied to legislation from the DfES.

Anyone who has been a governor of a voluntary aided school will know that there are enormous problems in getting maintenance carried out and funded because of the difficulties of deciding who is responsible. Where governors find that they are responsible for an unexpected cost, even with the 85 per cent support—which will now rise to 90 per cent—coming from the Government, it can be difficult for them to find the necessary money. Stories abound of how badly damaged a window and its frame have to be before liability passes from the LEA to the governors, and when a minor repair to a roof becomes a major one with the ensuing change of responsibility. The evidence from both the Lords and Commons committees, which have worked on the order, indicates that by shifting responsibility for certain items from the LEA to the governors, and at the same time raising the threshold of support from 85 to 90 per cent, the system will be made better and more manageable. We greatly welcome that.

It is interesting also to look at the order in relation to the deregulation initiatives which are to come before us in the Education Bill. The Minister mentioned that. The Commons report indicates the way in which the regulatory reform order has worked. Rigorous consultation is required to meet the needs of the order. For example, the DfES—the DfEE as it then was—established a project board of interested parties some three years ago. A written detailed consultation document was produced nearly a year ago and sent to 1,654 recipients. All schools were told that the proposals were available. There had been previous consultation documents on aspects of the proposal. It has been a very good consultation process, setting an example of what one would like to see.

In that respect, the Education Bill is being sold as a deregulatory Bill. It shifts legislation from primary to secondary legislation. The Minister will know that some of us have doubts about whether that is a good idea. The DfES memorandum which we have been given with the order notes that the process—the consultation that took place within the regulatory reform order—helped to build awareness of our proposals and achieved strong consensus among key stakeholders.

The reason given for not tackling great swathes of the Education Bill through regulatory reform orders is that,

"it is quicker and less burdensome on the Department's resources" to use primary legislation. Some of us wonder whether that is good enough. Is it not better to pass good legislation through the regulatory reform order procedure rather than to pass rushed and bad legislation through a Bill of which parliamentary procedures do not allow sufficient scrutiny?

Generally speaking, and despite those quibbles which perhaps relate more to the Education Bill than they do to the order, we welcome the order and would like to see it put into effect.