Commons Bill [Lords]

The Minister thinks that the gist of my amendment is covered in the powers contained in the fast-tracking procedure and in clause 43, which deals with the power to exempt, but can he clarify one point? According to my reading of clause 43(1), the Minister will be able to exempt only"the carrying out by a specified person of specified works on specified land””." Although subsection (b) widens that to include ““any land””, the fact remains that the clause refers to the carrying out of such works"““by a specified person, or a person of a specified description, of works of a specified description””." Does the Minister really believe that that creates the flexibility to deal with the issues that my hon. Friends and I have been discussing this afternoon? The examples of what are to be exempted are highly specific, rather than general. It is obviously impossible to say who should erect an emergency fence to protect children from falling into a mineshaft, for example, or to specify particular works. If one tried to list the circumstances in which an emergency might arise, one would be bound to miss some because, by their very nature, such circumstances are unforeseeable. My concern is whether the Minister has sufficient flexibility in clause 43 to do what he suggests he could do.