Electoral Administration Bill

I shall seek to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, even more. Clause 6 in Part 1 is headed ““CORE schemes: procedure”” and it states specifically that if a CORE scheme is being established or varied, the Secretary of State must first consult the people whom I indicated previously. It is absolutely clear that the Secretary of State, having what the noble Lord would regard as a wide-ranging power, must consult those people before he can do anything. That is clearly stated in the legislation, which I think deals with the problem indicated by the noble Lord. However, if on reflection the noble Lord feels that it does not do so, I shall be very happy to talk to him further about it.