Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Viscount, although I am not sure that I am quite so grateful to the noble Baroness opposite or to the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. Amendment No. 43 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, would require the Secretary of State to consult local authorities before laying an order that would set out the exemptions to the primary authority requirements in Clause 27. We are sympathetic to the intentions behind the amendment. As the House will know, the Government’s code of practice sets a high standard for consultation relating to any new area of policy development. This is important not least in the interests of better regulation, which is the subject of this Bill. Noble Lords will be aware that, as was said in Committee, the Government have recently reviewed their processes of consultation and will revise their code of practice shortly. I assure noble Lords that any use of the order-making powers in Clause 28 will be subject to consultation and will clearly need the input of the experts working with practitioners from local authorities as well as from businesses to get the details right. However, an explicit statutory requirement to that effect is unnecessary. The spirit of the noble Baroness’s amendment is agreed to, but it does not need to be in the Bill in this instance. The noble Baroness invited me to refer to the phrase ““wholly disproportionate””. That relates to orders that the Secretary of State is required to make. Proportionality is a fine balancing test and often it is not crystal clear whether contact will be proportionate. Where contacting the primary authority is wholly disproportionate—a stronger test than merely disproportionate—there must be an exemption. That is what the provision does. The noble Baroness also asked about resources. Under Clause 12 and the memorandums of understanding, we expect LBRO to make arrangements for sharing resource and expertise on arbitration issues. The answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, is that, although we have taken out that part from the schedule, there is under Clause 14 the right for LBRO to do anything that, "““it thinks necessary or expedient for the purpose of, or in connection with, the exercise of its functions””." That can include seeking advice from a national regulator when arbitrating. I also point out that, under paragraph 5 of Schedule 4, LBRO must consult the relevant national regulator and may consult other persons it considers to be appropriate when arbitrating. By removing part of the schedule, we have not made it impossible—in fact, it is still very possible—for LBRO to consult. On Question, amendment agreed to. Schedule 4 [Enforcement action: references to LBRO]: