Part of Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill - Report – in the House of Lords at 8:30 pm on 14 December 2021.
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
8:30,
14 December 2021
Before the noble Lord sits down, perhaps I could come back on the specific point he made about the Public Bodies Act. This Act was developed in the context of widespread public body reform. It was therefore appropriate that the super-affirmative procedure was applied. In the context of much broader powers, it was right that their use was subject to this higher level of parliamentary scrutiny. In contrast, the power in Clause 8 is much more narrowly defined, such that ARIA can only be dissolved—it cannot be merged, or have its functions or governance changed. That is a significant difference between the two.
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