Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 238C: 238C: Clause 213, page 149, line 1, leave out subsection (6) The noble Baroness said: I am tabling these amendments in response to issues raised in the 12th report of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. As I explained under previous amendments, Part 12 currently enables propriety controls to be applied to an entity connected with a local authority, with the description of entities to be based on any document. Our intention is to align propriety control definitions with definitions used for accounting purposes, which are currently contained in the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom: A Statement of Recommended Practice, or SORP. It is worth repeating—and the Local Government Association was very keen for us to do this. Provision is also made to enable propriety controls to be applied to trusts. The DPRRC report recommended that if the, "““purpose of subsection (6) is to allow ambulatory references””—" I understand those to be references that delegate powers to another body so that the body defines the terms that are referred to in statute— "““to a particular document (the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting) then we recommend that the provision should be so limited and should not allow ambulatory references to any document whatsoever””." Our Amendments Nos. 238C to 238K address this recommendation by narrowing the definition of ““document”” and make necessary technical amendments. Previously, the clause was very broad and enabled reference to be made to any document identified by order. In response to the DPRRC recommendation we now propose to restrict this to certain documents, as I will now explain. As noted, our intention is to align definitions for entities with those already in use for accounting purposes, known as ““proper practices””. Currently, the SORP is one of the documents identified as proper practices by regulations made under Section 21 of the Local Government Act 2003. There is a caveat to this. It is possible that the SORP may not always be a document identified as proper practices, or its name might change following a reissue, which may happen annually. Should the clause be limited to refer to the SORP as the DPRRC recommended, the Government could not continue to align propriety controls with definitions used for proper practices without needing to amend primary legislation. Therefore, Amendments Nos. 238C and 238D respectively remove the subsections that include reference to ““any document”” from Clauses 213 and 214, the first in relation to entities and the second in relation to trusts. Amendment No. 238E allows that an order made under Clause 213 may provide that a description of entity or trust may be made by reference to an expression used in a document, but that the reference to a document is now limited to a document which has been identified as proper practices by regulations made under Section 21 of the Local Government Act 2003. Amending the legislation in this way will allow the Government to continue to align propriety controls with proper practices without needing to amend primary legislation should the SORP no longer be used for proper practices. Amendments Nos. 238F and 238G make technical amendments to ensure that definitions in Clause 215 have the correct meanings. Amendment No. 238H ensures that consequential amendments made to secondary legislation following the repeal of Part 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 may make reference to a document that is identified as proper practices similar to that in Amendment No. 238E. Amendments Nos. 238J and 238K similarly ensure that when the Secretary of State or Welsh Ministers define terms for descriptions of entities used in primary legislation, the descriptions may make reference to a document identified as proper practices. I beg to move.