Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

We are very sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Jones, who is supposedly leading on the Bill, is again, on the second day of Committee, not here. We are fortunate to have with us a Minister as experienced as the noble Lord, Lord Bach, for what is turning out to be a complicated, difficult Bill, which requires attention and skill. It is working very well in the quiet of the Moses Room, in which I do not normally like to work. I thank the Minister for his care in handling the Bill and once again register our disappointment that the noble Lord, Lord Jones, is not here for the second day. I, too, am pleased that the Minister has listened to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s concern over the LBRO’s ability to direct one or more local authorities into compliance. However, while the Minister might attempt to persuade us that there is no longer a problem with the LBRO issuing a directive if there is now only a single local government recipient—by arguing that such employment of a directive falls into the traditional remit of the situation of last resort when the Secretary of State is forced to take control of an errant body and bring it back into compliance according to the will of Parliament—I argue in support of my noble friend Lord Eccles that the amendment does little to change the Secretary of State’s capabilities. In fact, the Secretary of State can realise exactly what the original clause in the Bill allowed him to do, only now he must limit himself to issuing a given direction, serially, and not in one fell swoop. I hope that the Minister assure us that this will not happen.