Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 246D: 246D: Clause 239, page 169, line 14, leave out subsections (4) and (5) and insert— ““(4) A statutory instrument containing an order made by the Welsh Ministers under section 211 or 219, other than an instrument to which subsection (5) applies, is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the National Assembly for Wales. (5) A statutory instrument containing— an order under section 211 which includes provision amending an enactment, or an order made by the Welsh Ministers under section 213, may not be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before and approved by a resolution of the National Assembly for Wales.”” The noble Baroness said: Noble Lords will recall that we debated and agreed amendments to Part 12 in response to one of the two recommendations from the 12th report of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. Amendments Nos. 246D, 246E and 246F are in response to the other DPRRC recommendation on Part 12 that the power at Clause 213(1) should be subject to the affirmative procedure. That recommendation was made because the power is wider than the one that the Secretary of State currently has in relation to companies under the control of a local authority, and also because it is difficult to discern the Government’s policy from the clause. As should be clear by now, the principal policy intention behind Part 12 is to enable propriety controls to be attached to the wider range of bodies through which local authorities in England and Wales now operate. The previous order-making power in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 was subject to the negative resolution procedure and, although the new power is wider, it is suitably limited to entities which, according to proper practices in force at the time, are required to be included in the authority’s statement of accounts. That limits the scope of the power to those bodies in respect of which authorities have access to benefits or are exposed to loss arising from that relationship. We were intending to pursue a negative resolution procedure because we thought that there might be exceptional circumstances where we would need to use the power urgently. However, the Government have taken on board the concerns raised by the committee, and Amendments Nos. 246D, 246E and 246F bring the power in Clause 213(1) into the affirmative resolution procedure. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to.