Employment Bill [HL]

I shall make one brief comment that arises from this amendment. We are supposed to be the revising Chamber and therefore, when the Government put legislation before us, we hope that they, if not make it easy for us, at least do not try to make it impossible or deliberately obscure. I understand that in moving Amendment No. 3 the noble Lord, Lord Wedderburn, was saying, ““Don’t repeal Section 30””, and then inserting the new clause. As I understand it from what he said, Section 30 has never been brought into force by the Government, although it is still in the 2002 Act. The current Criminal Justice Bill in which the noble Lord, Lord Bach, and I are both involved, repeals parts of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 that have never been brought into force. It is an extraordinary way to legislate if Governments first consult; then bring in legislation; then fail to bring it into force when it is on the statute book; then after further consultation repeal it; and then bring in something new instead. Can I ask for some assurance from the Government that they will talk among themselves and between departments? The noble Lord, Lord Wedderburn, earlier referred to some confusion between the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and to the slightly different tones of their consultations on tribunals. One would like to be sure that they talk to each other about matters that relate to tribunals—so there is a Ministry of Justice interest—and talk among themselves about whether the right way to go about things is to pass Acts, fail to bring parts of them into effect and then repeal them in two or three years.