Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 35: 35: Clause 9, page 5, line 2, leave out ““proposals”” and insert ““recommendations”” The noble Baroness said: I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 35A, 36, 38 and 39. My questions about the clause are not entirely captured by the amendments, but I shall explain them first and then ask the underlying questions. Two of the amendments, to Clauses 9 and 10, would allow the LBRO to make ““recommendations”” rather than ““proposals”” to a Minister or Welsh Ministers. In drafting them, I was trying to understand what was meant by ““proposals””. They would seem to be points which the Secretary of State or Welsh Ministers would either accept or reject, and ““recommendations”” might imply more of a spectrum. I have tabled the amendments to understand the relationship between the LBRO and Ministers. It may be entirely technical, and the Minister may tell me that a provision of this order is necessary to make any advice to Ministers intra vires the LBRO. If so, it adds to the Bill. I suppose one must accept it, but if that is the answer it means that we must probably be very careful that everything we want the LBRO to be able to do is spelt out. The National Consumer Council brought Amendment No. 35A to me as another probing amendment, seeking clarification of whether the clause allows the LBRO to advise on whether local authorities are exercising their functions effectively, and whether Ministers intend the LBRO to have that function. Given that the central objective of the LBRO will be to secure precisely that effectiveness, as we discussed on Monday, it will have to collect evidence to assess this and report to Ministers. Is that covered by subsection 1(a), which refers to, "““the way in which … local authorities … exercise any of their relevant functions””?" Do we look to paragraph (d) on this? I am sure the Minister or his officials will have seen the same briefing from the NCC as he read from part of it earlier, and will be aware of its concerns. I hope that he can put a little flesh on the bones of this. I beg to move.