Planning Bill

I agree that there are two basic issues here. The first is: one House or two? Certain features of our parliamentary work are reserved for the other place—for example, the Finance Bill—but I cannot see that planning is one of them. I am beginning to think that the other place has got into the habit of conflating the word ““Commons”” and the word ““Parliament””, when they are two different things. We should rightly press for the inclusion of this House on grounds both of constitutional principle and of the expertise that is here and should be fully involved in all stages. The second issue is whether the Secretary of State’s conclusions should simply be laid or be voted on and endorsed. When we were discussing Clause 1 last week, I strongly supported the division between the NPS and the Infrastructure Planning Commission, arguing that it is appropriate to delegate to the IPC the final decision where it operates within a democratically approved framework. Does the Secretary of State laying the conclusions represent a democratically approved framework? This has been argued at Second Reading here and in the other place. John Healey, explaining to Jacqui Lait why he did not agree with her amendment, said: "““When she spoke to her amendments, she was right to say that the House will not own the policy. The policy is properly the responsibility of the Government and elected Ministers””.—[Official Report, Commons, 2/6/08; col. 602.]" When does policy become policy? Is the mere act of laying enough to turn an idea into policy? I gave a number of examples last week of where there was a framework and a delegated body took the decisions. One of them was the courts, where the definition of a crime and a penalty is enshrined in the hundreds of criminal justice Bills that we have seen go through this Chamber. Another is tax, which is enshrined in the Finance Bill every year. The Competition Commission was created by legislation in the normal way. A partial exception to this is the Monetary Policy Committee, where the framework was part of legislation but the one decision about the inflation target is reserved for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I do not think, with due respect to the Minister, that we are in unknown territory; we are within the scope of known and existing practices. Which one do we want to plump for in this case? For two reasons, I think that we should plump for the practice that requires that the final conclusions be endorsed by Parliament. First, as a number of noble Lords have mentioned, the more the policy is clear, the more difficult it is for it to be challenged in the courts, which people think is a good thing, or for objectors to try to unpick something at a very late stage. Secondly, it would make a success of the IPC, in which I strongly believe. It will be more successful if it operates in a clear framework. The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, gave an example last week of the rate-capping dispute with local councils, where the authority of the Minister was strengthened by having the backing of Parliament. The IPC will need that authority. Moreover, it gives the IPC the answer to the question, ““What right have you to decide this?””. The answer is: ““Because both Houses of Parliament settled the policy within which we are operating””. Revisiting this matter will enhance the way in which Parliament works as well as increase the chances of success of the project as a whole.