Law Commission Bill [Lords]

I am not sure that I do, because there is a problem: the Government treat most Law Commission proposals with near contempt. That is sad, because the commission was set up by Lord Gerald Gardiner, who was in the chambers of which I was privileged to be a member and who had the good sense to appoint my father to the circuit bench. I therefore have a lot of time for the work of Lord Gardiner, and the Law Commission is one of his great legacies. The Law Commission is tasked with making proposals for law reform and simplification, and it does that assiduously. When it presents them, the Government often put them on the backburner. If we get to Third Reading, I will give some specific examples of the Government's failure and of their letting down the Law Commission badly. Again, the matter could have been addressed or drawn to public attention through questions, early-day motions and activity in the House. To revert to the intervention of my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), there is a problem and the Bill will not solve it because it will not produce action. Nowadays, we are much concerned with action plans as a substitute for action. The Bill proposes reports as a substitute for action and clause 2 includes a protocol, which needs no legislative cover. It is a new concept—a trendy phrase that the Government are using at the moment. Departments should talk to the Law Commission without the need for a protocol—it should be routine, but apparently it is not. As my hon. Friend implies, the whole proposal is a pretty good waste of space. However, I do not necessarily want to rain on the parade—it is not my wont. Amendment 11 would remove the phrase "(in whole or in part)" from subsection (5) of proposed new section 3A in clause 1, which currently states:""If a decision not to implement a Law Commission proposal (in whole or in part) has been taken before the first reporting year, subsection (1)(b) does not require any report to deal with the proposal so far as it is covered by that decision."" That means that if the Government decided not to implement part of a Law Commission proposal, the remaining parts, about which they had not reached a decision, would not be subject to the reporting requirements. That is another gaping loophole in the process. The Bill has been produced by the Government and, because it is all about gesture politics, they do not want it to have teeth. If I am wrong, I hope to hear from the Minister words to the effect that the Government think that all four amendments are excellent, will strengthen the Bill and can be supported. I await her response with eager anticipation.