Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Subsection (5) does indeed go a long way to achieving what we want to achieve, but it is important that we include in the Bill the fact that amendments to Law Commission recommendations may need to be made. The most obvious example of when that might be necessary, which my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire gave in Committee, is following a time lapse such as that we have discussed, during which other things may have taken place that mean that a recommendation no longer fits the purpose for which it was intended. In that case, changes would have to be made. Amendment (a) would stifle that use. My hon. Friend also said in Committee that the words ““with or without changes”” are not intended to allow Ministers to make proposals that would turn recommendations into something completely different. If proposals are so far removed from the recommendations that they would not, in fact, implement them, under new clause 21 the proposal should not be proceeded with. I would imagine that the Scrutiny Committee would be quick to ensure that that were brought to the House’s attention under the new veto provisions to be introduced in the Bill. The 2001 Act included numerous technical restrictions that created arbitrary limits on what could be delivered by order. The order-making powers created by the Bill should be flexible enough to achieve the effective delivery of beneficial Law Commission recommendations, which are an important part of the better regulation agenda. The correct approach is not to rule out changes but to allow proposals to be considered by the Committees. If they do not agree that the proposals implement Law Commission recommendations or satisfy the pre-conditions in clause 3 that provide important protection for people’s rights, they can veto the order. We may, for example, need a power to make changes before the Law Commission recommendations become legislation. There may be scope for drafting or structural changes if the Government decide to adopt only some of the proposals in a Bill drafted by the commission. It is often necessary to make amendments to reflect changes in the law after a Committee reports. It may be desirable, too, to make material changes to the detail after further consideration or a suggestion from a scrutiny Committee. In response to the question from the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire (Mr. Gauke), subsection (5) would not cover all those possibilities. In summary, amendment (a) is unduly restrictive, as it would introduce sterile and time wasting arguments about form and language. We want a procedure that delivers better regulation, not one that absorbs resources in arid legal arguments over technicalities. I therefore cannot support amendment (a), so I hope that the right hon. Member for East Yorkshire (Mr. Knight) will withdraw it. Amendment (b) is slightly more generous than amendment (a), and is substantially the same as amendment No. 3. It would allow Ministers to change recommendations if it is necessary to take into account any development in the law since the recommendations were made, as I said earlier. It builds the case for such a change—the longer the delay between the publication of the Law Commission recommendations and the delivery of the order, the more likely it is that the law will have to be changed. In such cases, it is no longer sensible to implement the recommendations without changes, because in certain respects they may be out of date. It is important to be able to implement the recommendations with the changes necessary to reflect changes in the law. To that extent, I welcome the policy underlying amendment (b). However, it, too, is excessively restrictive. There may be other reasons why changes are necessary or desirable. It may be possible to improve the drafting of the draft legislation proposed by the Law Commission, not least when part of a group of recommendations is to be implemented or several sets of recommendations are drawn together in a single instrument.