Identity Cards Bill

I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, that we want to take Parliament with us. Indeed, we do not think that this provision should necessarily be a contentious one. Perhaps I can explain why I say that. Taken together, Amendments Nos. 50 and 65 would make any subordinate legislation under Clause 2(3) subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, which would require a draft order to be laid before and approved by Parliament before the order was made. I hope I have indicated that the Government’s view is that in a number of areas the affirmative procedure is correct. In particular, we did that in relation to the previous amendment that we debated. However, we are not convinced that the affirmative procedure is required for this power, which is just to exclude categories of persons from an entitlement to register. The power is limited to the categories described in subsection (3); namely, those who have resided in the UK for less than the prescribed period. I have already indicated that we propose that the period to be prescribed should be about three months. Anyone who has been here for fewer than three months, and those who reside here unlawfully, would not be entitled to register. In relation to those two groups of people, we believe that it is appropriate for any change in relation to paragraphs (a), (b) or (c) to subsection (3) to be by negative resolution. It cannot be used for other cases. The delegated powers in this clause were scrutinised by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee in its report on 10 November. It made no comment about the level of scrutiny in this clause. We therefore have to accept that it was content with it. We have listened to the concerns previously expressed and have changed the order-making power in relation to modifying the age of registration to an affirmative resolution process, which reflects the fact that this would not be done lightly and would not cause significant public debate. I am not convinced that the other regulation-making powers under this clause relating to entitlement to registration require the affirmative procedure. Therefore, we are of the view that the negative procedure is appropriate.