Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

I will speak to the Question whether Clause 7 should stand part of the Bill, which is grouped with the amendment, with no great expectation that the Government will accept it. We have already been reminded that there are organisations—which I would not suggest would readily go to ““war-war”” beyond ““jaw-jaw””—that have said that they want an opportunity for a degree of compulsion. It is important that we address what is, in some ways, at the heart of the matter. We will come to other relevant clauses, but this is about local democracy, the autonomy of each local authority and, somewhere else in the forest, the need to ensure proper regulation. My objection is, of course, to the power of direction. I have heard so much over the years about local authorities’ freedoms and flexibilities and yet, too often, we come to a point where it is freedom ““so far but no further””. There may be a direction to a recalcitrant individual authority or to all local authorities. Perhaps the Minister can tell us whether the requirement in subsection (4) that before giving a direction the LBRO has to consult will extend from the individual authority to all local authorities. This follows our debate on an earlier clause. At the moment the consultation is with ““such other persons””, other than the relevant regulator, ““as LBRO considers appropriate””. Either way, having given guidance, if the LBRO is then faced with the question of whether it should give a direction, I would say that it has pretty much failed because its guidance has not taken everyone along with it, and that is the style that we are being encouraged to assume will be adopted. It will also have corrupted the English language in the process, because while a direction about guidance is not a contradiction in terms, perhaps it should be. Under Clause 6, local authorities must have ““regard”” to guidance. Every local authority will have a published enforcement policy, it will be required to comply with the statutory regulator’s compliance code, and the manner in which functions should be conducted is expected to be clear, proportionate and transparent. If a local authority does not have due regard—which properly allows for rejection; due regard cannot mean rolling over and saying yes to everything—to guidance, there are legal appeal mechanisms, a corporate complaints procedure and the local government ombudsman. All of this has been pointed out by the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services in its very good briefing. I would like to use this opportunity to apologise to LACORS because on Monday I indicated that I had not had a briefing from the LGA. I thought that when the noble Baroness, Lady Turner, referred to the LGA briefing it was a separate document, but it was the one we have had from LACORS with the LGA. It was not tardy at all, as I might have implied, so I apologise for that. The main point is whether a power of direction, that heavy hand of ““war-war””, should remain.