Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 168: 168: Clause 64, page 28, line 41, leave out ““direct”” and insert ““by order require”” The noble Lord said: In moving Amendment No. 168, I shall also speak to the amendments in my name and that of the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles. The amendments seek to address the fact that the Bill would allow Ministers to suspend legal powers conferred on the regulators and to revoke that suspension by direction, rather than by order. The original statutory instrument, which conferred the power in the first place, will remain even while the power is suspended. It will therefore not be possible to tell which powers are suspended by looking at the statute book. As your Lordships’ Select Committee on the Constitution said in paragraph 6 of its report on the Bill which it published on 4 December last year: "““At any given time, primary and delegated legislation ought to show clearly which institutions—courts or regulators—may exercise sanctioning power in relation to criminal offences””." In a letter to your Lordships’ Select Committee, the noble Lord, Lord Jones of Birmingham, noted that this provision was added following consultation on the draft Bill and is intended to act as a safeguard against a regulator’s persistent misuse of the new powers. ““The clause””, he said, "““is intended to act as an interim, temporary measure that is designed to allow the regulator an opportunity to put right any failings. It will provide a practical and flexible alternative to full revocation of the legislative order””." Under the provisions of the Bill, the Minister will have to report any suspension or revocation of powers to Parliament, and the regulator will have to publish details of the direction. I respectfully submit that consideration should be given by the Committee to these amendments because they would require the Secretary of State to obtain parliamentary approval by order before suspending a regulator’s power or revoking that suspension, rather than allowing him or her to do it through simple direction. I beg to move.