My Lords, my noble friend Lord Hunt referred to “unease” about the Bill. I would put it slightly stronger: the “worry” about the Bill is threefold. First, as we have been hearing, it is badly thought out, badly drafted and not subject to proper consultation. Secondly, it is powerful: it allows statutory bodies—ones we thought autonomous —to have their roles, structures and working practices altered, not at their request to a Minister but to comply with government policy. Thirdly, as we have just been hearing, these changes to statutory bodies will be imposed by secondary legislation.
Hence, it is entirely legitimate to ask questions about Clause 13. Again, it is about whether there are two parts to the Bill. I have been focused on the idea that the Bill is about recognising international qualifications, but we are hearing from the various trade talks that the Government will indeed want to add professional services into the mix. As we have said before, this will often be really welcome and will be prioritised, I hope, in some of the trade talks—but only where it is judged good for our professions and not where it is imposed in a deal for something else.
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Today is the launch, as we know, of the negotiations with 11 countries belonging to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. One day I will learn to say that, so it rolls off the tongue, but I have not quite got there yet, and “the CPTPP” does not roll of the tongue either. The launch of those negotiations today highlights the possibility of liberalisation through the recognition of qualifications, encouraging this, particularly in legal services and engineering. As I say, this is excellent when it is in our interest, but only so long as the UK can continue to set its own regulatory frameworks and standards, and only where any changes are brought properly through legislation and not just via Henry VIII powers.
As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, says, without a change to the powers in the Bill, this will allow for no detailed parliamentary scrutiny of the implementation of the secondary legislation that will fall as a result of those new trade deals. They
could be in areas of really significant, independent professional standards, so there is real concern here about the powers that are granted to Ministers in Clause 13.