Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

I thank the noble Lord for that reply. I know that a review is going on, but it has always been about the law enforcement agencies and nothing to do with local authorities, which have not been involved in it at all. I do not suppose that my drafting is in any way perfect—it very seldom is—but I want to avoid the passing of a Bill that creates another confusion. The noble Lord heard what the IPT said. The police sergeant was undoubtedly committing a crime and defrauding the police authority. There is no difficulty with that, but the IPT said, ““No, it’s about the economic well-being of the country””. A number of the duties of public authorities are to do with public health and safety, as the Minister said, but they are not allowed to use that ground because the Home Office has removed it from them. I want to ensure that we do not get into a position whereby Parliament, having been faced with this situation, has not made it clear, as the IPT said in the previous case, that local authorities are still allowed to use covert surveillance authorised by RIPA in cases where civil sanctions are to be used. I do not think that there is any point in pursuing this amendment any further, but I would like to see something in the Bill about this to make sure that Parliament has noted what the IPT said in its decision. We will never get any further with the IPT; its decisions cannot be appealed against or judicially reviewed. Therefore, only Parliament can do something about this. I hope that, perhaps at a later stage of the Bill, the noble Lord will after consideration find some form of wording that will ensure that Parliament really has considered this point and given local authorities the powers that they require to collect under Section 40 the evidence that they need to fulfil their duties. I am sure that the noble Lord will do that.