My Lords, I regret very much having to put Amendment 27 before the House but, frankly, the Government leave us no choice. We have seen throughout the passage of the Bill the cavalier attitude the Government have taken—not by the Ministers who have represented the Government in this House, I hasten to add, but by the Government as a whole. In support of that assertion, I quote from the 2nd Report of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, published on 26 June, which says at paragraph 10:
“We note that the Minister said that ‘the introduction of the Bill, with a strong duty on the Secretary of State, sends a clear message to parents and providers about the Government’s commitment’. That is not, in our judgment, a proper use of legislation: the purpose of an Act is to change the law, not to ‘send a message’”.
Earlier, in paragraph 8, the committee says:
“In our view, the Government’s stated approach to delegation is flawed. While the Bill may contain a legislative framework, it contains virtually nothing of substance beyond the vague ‘mission statement’”.
Finally, in paragraph 9 of the report, the committee states that:
“We do not accept the Government’s attempt to dignify their approach to delegation by referring to a need to consult. We of course acknowledge the need for consultation as a precursor to the formation of policy; but this should in our view have followed the well-established sequence of a Green Paper setting out proposals, followed by a White Paper containing the Government’s legislative intentions, and finally the presentation of a Bill”.
There we have it—that spells out quite clearly how the Government should be presenting legislation to Parliament.
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Since then, we have had some concessions, but not enough to persuade us on this side not to table Amendment 27. We have argued that all the regulations made on the Bill should be subject to affirmative resolution of both Houses of Parliament. The Government’s response is to say that the initial regulations made under Clause 1 would be subject to an affirmative resolution but not the rest. Why is this? I do not think the Minister has given us a thoroughly acceptable answer this evening. In its 8th report, published yesterday, the committee points out that,
“conditions could subsequently be altered—and conceivably removed—by negative procedure regulations”.
It also says:
“The first-time affirmative procedure that the Government now propose for regulations under clause 1 would mean that the initial (affirmative) regulations would include the eligibility conditions; but conditions could subsequently be altered—and conceivably removed—by negative procedure regulations. We do not regard that as satisfactory, and, in the absence of provision about eligibility on the face of the Bill, we recommend that regulations under clause 1(2)(d) and (2B) in particular should require the affirmative procedure whenever made”.
That is a report of distinguished Members from all sides of this House and we should take note of it. I am not alone in believing that this is a damning indictment of the structure of the Bill, handed down by a distinguished committee. I invite the Minister, in his reply, to state quite clearly that the Government will look further at this and come back, at Third Reading, with an amendment to make all the regulations in the Bill subject to an affirmative resolution. That is righting a wrong and I hope the Government will do it.