Planning Bill

My Lords, I am glad that my noble friend the Leader of the House emphasised that while it was not for us to challenge a Commons assertion of financial privilege, equally she did not wish us to be stifled in debate. That dual requirement leaves us in a bit of difficulty because without question there is an important constitutional issue here. Noble Lords on all sides of the House should be extremely grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, for his vigilance in identifying that issue at a very early stage in our proceedings on the Planning Bill and for his persistence, as well as for his temperate tone and the moderation of his ambitions. He has sought to find ways in which the differing positions can be reconciled and the powers and responsibilities of this House can be preserved. Equally, we must be extremely grateful to the Delegated Powers Committee for its trenchant analysis of the issue. Yes, indeed, the other place is entitled to assert financial privilege, but for some of us it is perplexing that it should have wished to do so, given that the Secretary of State is not on the list of CIL charging authorities. There are a great many issues that will be subject to regulation which Parliament has not had the opportunity to examine hitherto. As the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, said, there are perhaps some 20 sets of regulations to come to flesh out and clarify what the purport of the legislation may be. Among the issues that will be considered will be not just the level of charges—indeed, that is a matter for local determination—but matters of principle such as who should be liable for the charge, the interaction between the new regime created under the regulations and charity law, and what rights of appeal and compensation there should be. These are not matters of ““financial privilege”” as one conventionally understands the term; they are matters of legislative principle which it seems strange and unsatisfactory that this House should be denied the right to consider. The Joint Committee on Conventions specifically rejected the proposition that this House should no longer have the right to reject regulations. As noble Lords have already reminded us—although we hardly need to be reminded in this House—we are a bicameral legislature. I am authorised by the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, who regrets very much that he cannot be in the Chamber this afternoon—because, ironically, he is chairing a session of the Merits Committee—to say that he is greatly concerned that the measure deprives this House and the Merits Committee of the ability to scrutinise the instruments which will define what the CIL is to mean in practice. He notes that we see very many statutory instruments which impose fees and charges which have never hitherto been seen as outside the purview of this House and the Merits Committee. He also asked me to say that he is speaking in a personal capacity, because the Merits Committee has not yet had the opportunity formally to consider this issue. However, what he has asked me to say on his behalf bears serious consideration by this House. The proceedings on the Planning Bill have shown very well the capacity of this House to improve legislation on a cross-party basis and on a basis that the Government are frequently willing to accept. As noble Lords have already suggested, it is the more important in that so little detail about the CIL has been made available to us in the terms of the primary legislation. In the other place, John Healey suggested that it was inappropriate for us at this stage to put forward the amendments that the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, has proposed to deal with this matter because they would create a constitutional innovation. However, it is the other place that has created the constitutional innovation in asserting financial privilege where so little of what would be covered by the regulations is a matter of financial privilege as it is conventionally understood. The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, was driven to introduce what might be regarded as innovative in constitutional terms simply as a device to enable us to have a say, and how right he is to insist that we should. The Minister in another place also said that it was inappropriate to raise this matter at Third Reading, but, as Jacqui Lait said there yesterday, the Conservative Opposition raised a preliminary concern about issues relating to the CIL even at Second Reading. These issues have been ventilated at different stages in the passage of the legislation in both Houses, very particularly by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, from Committee stage onwards. It is not too late, even now at 11.59, for the Government to draw back from using the legislation inappropriately to sap powers of this House, which from time to time has the temerity to challenge the monopoly of wisdom by the Government and the other place. It is the Government who are creating the constitutional innovation, and it is only right and proper that we should express our concerns, courteously but vigorously, because this is a matter of great moment for this House.