Public Bodies Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, for his amendment because it means that we have to look carefully at what we have said and what we are doing. With his background in the Office of Fair Trading and my experience of working with him over the years, I know how valuable his opinion is in these matters. He has rightly said that the Competition Appeal Tribunal was created by the Enterprise Act 2002. It hears appeals on competition and regulated industry cases and is independent from other competition bodies, such as the OFT and the Competition Commission, because it hears appeals against their decisions. Rightly, he explained how special it is. The Competition Service was created by the Enterprise Act to provide administrative and other support to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. It has no function other than being a service for the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The Government believe that the way in which this function is being provided is not making the most effective use of resources and that there may be cost savings and increased efficiencies if the functions of the Competition Service were transferred to the Tribunals Service, to which the noble Lord referred. The consequence of this would be transferring the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which would then receive its support from the Tribunals Service. The Competition Service would then be abolished. However, no final decision has been taken. As the noble Lord, Lord Young, said, a working group has been set up to test the case for making this proposed abolition and transfer. It is a decision that we will not take lightly. The working group will report to Ministers in BIS and the Minister of Justice in early 2011. They will then decide whether to proceed with the abolition and the transfer. In carrying out this review, the Government are clear that there should be no adverse impact on the operation of the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which would operate as an independent tribunal under the aegis of the Tribunals Service. I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, finds that reassuring. The objective of putting the Competition Service into Schedule 1 is therefore to allow the Government to increase efficiency and effectiveness, and to provide better value for money in a way that ensures that the Competition Appeal Tribunal is supported pending the outcome of the review process that I have described. That covers the question put by the noble Lord, Lord Young, on why the Competition Service is included in Schedule 1 rather than Schedule 7 when the decision to abolish it has not yet been taken. I repeat that we are currently testing the case for abolishing the service, so we have included it in Schedule 1 to facilitate the proposed abolition. However, the decision to abolish is subject to further discussion and final advice to Ministers in 2011. On the Scottish case and the question of devolution put by the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, this issue is being looked at by the working group. Other tribunals are in a similar position and do not have any problems, but I emphasise to the noble Lord that this is being looked at by the group. I expect the review to reach its conclusions before the Bill reaches the statute book and I assure both noble Lords, Lord Borrie and Lord Young, that the comments they have made in the debate will be taken into account in coming to a final decision. I should also say that Edward Davey, the Minister responsible for competition issues in another place, met only last night with Sir Gerald Barling, the president of the Competition Appeal Tribunal, to listen to his concerns. Should the working group conclude that if there is not a convincing case for abolition and transfer, it just will not happen. Given that and any other conversations that the noble Lord, Lord Borrie or Lord Young, may wish to hold with me between now and Report and by the time the report comes in, I hope that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw his amendment.