Welfare Reform Bill

Well, my Lords, we shall see quite how significant the restriction is. The scrutiny of legislation is a very important subject. However, I continue to disagree with the way forward that the noble Lord’s amendment suggests. As noble Lords are aware, we have provided draft regulations to the House under Clauses 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13. The regulations under Clause 12 are subject to affirmative procedure on their first use; that is quite right, given that mandatory work-related activity will be a step beyond Pathways to Work-style conditionality. On other clauses in Part 1, we have accepted the recommendations of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee on the regulations that should be subject to affirmative procedure. On the clauses covered by the amendment, the committee did not make recommendations and specifically noted in its report the number of draft regulations that the Government have made available. I do not believe that it is necessary for regulations under Clauses 8 to 14 to be subject to affirmative resolution, given the steps that we have taken and the reassurances that we have given. The amendment goes further and would have all sets of regulations under the clauses now and forevermore subject to affirmative resolution. Small changes in regulations are necessary to ensure that policy is effective and works. When necessary, this can mean learning from experience and altering procedures as appropriate. Making all regulations subject to affirmative procedure would require debates in both Houses on regulations that, for example, made small changes to notification requirements or the test applied before deferring an interview. That could be counterproductive, in delaying changes that were needed to improve service to our customers. As for the number of regulations that the amendment would cover, we have 15 regulation-making powers, but that could result in something like 100 regulations in all. I am sure that even the noble Lord would accept that that would be a considerable burden on Parliament’s time. It is always good fun to be in his company when debating these matters, but one can have too much of a good thing—and I suggest that the 100 regulations subject to an affirmative procedure that would result from this amendment would be a little more than a good thing. On that basis, I urge the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment. In doing so, I am very happy to sit with him and ask officials between now and Third Reading to take him in a bit more detail through what might be involved with the 100 regulations that he suggests should be affirmative. That might help to engender a broader understanding of the flavour of the regulations and the small movements that some of them might contain.