Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that remark. New clauses 7 and 24 are very much either/or provisions. New clause 7—the sunset clause—may go a little too far, but new clause 24, which provides an opportunity for renewal after two years and would not automatically put an end to the whole Bill, might be more to his liking."Andrew Miller: I realise that the hon. Gentleman could not be in the Chamber yesterday, but I expressed then my fear that the existence of the process he describes in new clause 24 would create inertia in some Departments that would worsen the chances of advancing the regulation process. I think that he and I—and, indeed, the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath)—share the desire to deregulate constructively wherever possible, but I want to find solutions that will not create that inertia in Departments. I therefore urge the hon. Member for Forest of Dean to move away from either of those concepts." My hon. Friend the Minister and I have not spoken about this subject—he has had to absorb rather a lot from me in a very few days—but I will throw another googly at him and suggest that perhaps it might be sensible for the Government to give a commitment to allow an opportunity, either on the Floor of the House or through my Committee or the other relevant Committees, to hold periodic discussions on the active working of such legislation. If we are to get it right and make it work in all our interests, we need such a mechanism. On the one hand, I do not want to create a situation that allows any excuse inside any part of the Administration to slow down the process, but on the other, I do not want a process that over-complicates the situation for those outside the House who are trying to understand what is necessarily a pretty complex process.