My Lords, I thank all those who have contributed to the debate so far. I have carefully noted all views.
I know there is considerable concern about the granting of Henry VIII powers—I would be worried if noble Lords did not express such concerns—because of the wide scope of such powers to amend primary
legislation that underwent parliamentary scrutiny and debate. However, I assure the Committee that we have given very careful consideration to the need to include such a power. The noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, acknowledged that we have already acted on many of the concerns expressed, and we have modified the Bill considerably as a result of many of the points put to us by committees in this House and the other place.
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This power is necessary to ensure that further consequential amendments can be made to other legislation to reflect the impact of the Space Industry Bill. I am sure that noble Lords will agree that we do not want a situation where other legislation may negate the provisions in the Bill or leave a lacuna or some legal uncertainty.
In drafting the Bill, every effort has been made to ensure that all related legislation has been examined and the changes included in Schedule 12. However, as noble Lords will recognise, spaceflight is a very complex area and we want to ensure that we can make changes to cover any new areas that were not contemplated when the Bill was drafted or indeed when the primary legislation in question was made.
Limiting the power to make consequential amendments to changes to secondary legislation only could adversely impact the practical application of the Bill. It is important to be able to make any minor and consequential amendments to all types of legislation by the quicker route of secondary legislation.
Clause 66 provides that any amendments to primary legislation will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. Parliament will therefore have the opportunity to scrutinise and debate any amendments to primary legislation. Amendments to secondary legislation will be via the negative resolution procedure. The Government believe that this strikes the appropriate balance for parliamentary scrutiny.
I thank noble Lords for tabling Amendment 42. I note that the same issue was raised by the Select Committee on the Constitution. The committee was concerned that there was some ambiguity whether the affirmative resolution procedure would apply when the power was used to repeal primary legislation.
I am pleased to inform noble Lords that my right honourable friend in the other place, John Hayes, has written to the committee to confirm that the Government will bring forward an amendment on Report to clarify this point: that the affirmative procedure will apply to the revocation or repeal of primary legislation.
The noble Lord, Lord Rosser, asked about the definition of “minor and consequential”. Of course, there is no legal definition. It is the term used in legislation when changes need to be made to other enactments. Consequential amendments are necessary to make legislation work well. Minor amendments are not in their nature substantive.
The noble Lord also asked why we needed the Bill now if the statutory instruments were still two years away, but, as he acknowledged in quoting my letter to him, we need to provide certainty through primary legislation. Industry understands the need to work
with us to develop secondary legislation and believes that we have got the balance right between certainty and flexibility.
I assure noble Lords that this type of power is often used in legislation. Any amendment to primary legislation will be subject to the affirmative procedure, therefore allowing for a debate in Parliament. The reason why we have this power in the Bill is that spaceflight is a new and complex activity. While we have scrutinised related areas of law to identify what legislation needs to be amended, we cannot rule out the possibility that some other legislation may be engaged in the future.
It is likely that other legislation will come to light during the development of the secondary legislation. The power gives us the flexibility to deal with this situation. It does not mean a wholesale rewrite of legislation, as the power is limited to making only consequential amendments in other legislation to take account of the Space Industry Bill. In the light of those assurances, I would be grateful if noble Lords considered not pressing the amendments.