I thank everybody who has spoken in the debate so far. Just before we start, let me give my personal support—not a matter for the Government—to the gruesome twosome, the unholy alliance between the noble Lords, Lord Foulkes and Lord Cormack. I hope that we can get back to full and proper debate in this Chamber as quickly as possible. I do not know about other noble Lords, but I quite miss the heckling from the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes; it adds a bit of interest and spice to our debates. I am sure that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, copes very well with debate in this Chamber, of which she is a noted exponent.
The Government have listened closely to the concerns from colleagues from all sides of the House and outlined in the DPRRC report. I thank your Lordships for the helpful debates that we had, and I hope noble Lords will think that I have responded at least to some of the points that were made. As I set out in my letter to colleagues last week, we listened closely to all your Lordships’ comments and, after further reflection, we are proposing a number of changes in line with many of those comments to how these powers will operate. The amendments will remove powers that are now, on further reflection, considered non-essential and will provide the fullest transparency and accountability in the use of those that remain. We hope that the package of changes proposed will address the concerns that were raised and provide some reassurance that the Government take their responsibilities seriously in administering these powers.
I understand from the comments of the noble Baronesses, Lady Hayter and Lady Andrews, and others that noble Lords intend to divide the House on this issue tonight. I hope that they will consider carefully what we hope will be very welcome steps before voting
in a way that will have quite far-reaching consequences for the operation of the UK internal markets. Given that there are no other groupings today and next week on the delegated powers more generally, I hope that noble Lords will allow me to discuss this grouping in a little more detail.
First, the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, will remove the ability of the Secretary of State to amend the list of statutory requirements that are in scope of the mutual recognition principle for goods. While our position remains that the majority of the powers in the Bill are essential, as I said, in this particular case we are now content that the removal of the power will not substantially undermine the operation and flexibility of the internal market system. Therefore, we have removed the power—I have added my name to the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews—in combination with further changes on transparency and accountability that we are proposing.
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Secondly, I have tabled an amendment that will remove the “made affirmative” power to make regulations amending Schedule 2 on exclusions from the market access principles for services. The Government have reassessed the balance between the need to make changes to Schedule 2 and the need to give Parliament sufficient opportunity to scrutinise any such changes. We have decided that it would be possible to make all of the necessary changes using the draft affirmative procedure. I believe that this amendment goes some way to address the concerns raised by the House about the use of these two powers.
Thirdly, I have tabled amendments that impose a new duty on the Secretary of State to review and lay a report before the House on how the powers in Parts 1 and 2 have been used. This duty affects the powers in Clauses 6, 8, 10, 17 and 20. The purpose of this amendment is to offer comfort to the House that the powers to make delegated legislation contained in Parts 1 and 2 will be scrutinised not only when they are being laid before Parliament, but in a more holistic way after a suitable period of time has elapsed. This dedicated review will ensure that individual uses of the power can be considered in the round, for example, taking into account cumulative impacts and those that could not have been foreseen prior to the change. The report has to be laid between three and five years after the Bill is passed. This will ensure that enough time has passed for the effect of the powers to be thoroughly and properly considered, while not waiting too long before the House has a chance to consider the evidence.
I understand the scepticism expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, about the independence and rigour of the review, but I reassure her that we are fully committed to carrying out this review thoroughly and rigorously. This will involve consultation with the devolved Administrations where the powers have been used to ensure that their views are accounted for. It will involve any relevant reports by the office for the internal market—an independent office—and the Secretary of State will provide evidence and justification as to why it was necessary to exercise the power and what impact it has had on the integrity of the market.
This is in line with further government amendments I have tabled, which were outlined in the “Dear colleagues” letter that a number of noble Lords were kind enough to refer to, requiring consultation with the devolved Administrations prior to the use of the powers I mentioned earlier. I will introduce these amendments in a later grouping. However, they again underline our commitment to effective consultation and transparency and to ensuring that the internal market works for all parts of the United Kingdom. I hope that this, together with the other amendments in my name, goes at least some way to addressing the concerns raised by noble Lords in previous stages, and I hope that the House will accept the amendments.
There are also a number of amendments in the group that seek to remove other delegated powers from the Bill. These amendments seek to remove the powers to amend the legitimate aims and exclusions for both goods and services, and the power to amend the list of relevant requirements for the non-discrimination principle for goods. The noble Baronesses, Lady Andrews and Lady Hayter, and the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, asked me why I support Amendment 2 but not Amendment 7. The reasons for removing that power with Amendment 2 do not read across to these other powers. As I said, we are content that removal of the Clause 3 power will not substantially undermine the operation and flexibility of the system.
However, these other powers deal with a completely different set of issues. The exclusions and legitimate objectives lists have been narrowly drafted to ensure that no limited barriers to free trade can be created. However, this list may need to adapt to respond to the feedback that we get from businesses and consumer stakeholders. The power will be subject to extensive oversight, as I have set out. However, removing these powers would make it impossible for the Government to respond to business and wider stakeholder feedback and act rapidly to adjust the list of exclusions if implementation shows the need for a review or if further areas are identified that need amending due to the shifting economic landscape.
For example, the remaining power in Clause 17(2) to amend the services exclusions in Schedule 2 is particularly relevant for sectors that are currently not applying the principle of mutual recognition as a result of retained EU law and for which such a sudden change could, therefore, be problematic. There is also a possibility that a need to amend the legitimate aims lists could arise. For example, there may be concerns in relation to future areas of regulation that could not have been foreseen at this time. Therefore, we are committed to keeping these powers to ensure that the system works as intended and as well as possible within our constitutional framework.
I also want to be clear that if the House agrees to the other amendments in addition to Amendment 7, which would remove other powers in the Bill, this would effectively render the Government’s concessions on Amendment 14 and others in the group redundant. For example, it would remove the power that the Government have offered a concession on through Amendment 14. Removing this power would affect the operation of the internal market. Your Lordships will
also not be accepting the positive steps that the Government have taken to reach what we think is a compromise position that balances the concerns of the House and protects the internal market. However, as I hope I have shown, our existing commitments and the new amendments I have tabled will ensure that their use is subject to effective oversight and consultation.
To sum up, as I set out in Committee, any use of these powers would require an affirmative regulation to be made in Parliament. This will ensure that Parliament will be able to scrutinise and vote on any changes. Secondly, consultation with colleagues in the devolved Administrations is now a legislative requirement for the use of these powers. Finally, the exercise and effectiveness of these powers will be subject to the review I talked about earlier within five years. Together, this will provide what I think is the highest degree of accountability and scrutiny. With these remarks, I hope I have addressed the concerns expressed and outlined in Committee. Therefore, in the light of that, I hope that noble Lords will feel able not to press their amendments.