Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 92: 92: Schedule 12, page 204, line 19, leave out sub-paragraph (2) and insert— ““(2) A power to use force does not include power to use force against persons, except to the extent that regulations provide that it does.”” The noble Baroness said: In moving Amendment No. 92, I will speak to Amendments Nos. 95, 118 and 119. Before I do so, I cannot resist saying that when people lived primarily in castles, they did not have locks on their doors anyway, so there was no forced entry. The poor got this anyway, did they not? The amendments arise as a result of the main recommendations of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s scrutiny of the Bill, which, as I indicated yesterday, the Government have accepted. Paragraphs 24(2) and 31(5) of Schedule 12 empower my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor to make regulations with regard to the use of force against persons by enforcement agents when taking control of goods, both on premises and on the public highway. The DPRRC recommended that such regulations should be subject to the affirmative procedure, given the sensitive nature of these powers, and the Government agree. That is achieved by Amendments Nos. 92 and 95, which amend paragraphs 24(2) and 31(5) so that they now state that force against persons cannot be used except to the extent provided for in regulations. That will also necessitate a minor amendment to Clause 82, which sets out the parliamentary scrutiny applying to regulations under Part 3, and therefore Schedule 12. That change is effected by Amendments Nos. 118 and 119. I beg to move.