DEREGULATION PROPOSALS
Part I of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994
created a special kind of delegated legislation, usually referred
to as "deregulation orders". Under that Act, deregulation
orders may be made by any Minister to amend or repeal any enactment
of primary legislation with a view to removing or reducing any
burden, if the Minister is of the opinion that this can be done
without removing any necessary protection.
The 1994 Act provides for a two-stage process for the parliamentary scrutiny of deregulation
orders. In Stage 1, a document containing the proposal is laid
before Parliament in the form of a draft of the order, together
with explanatory material; and the Committee and the Commons equivalent
committee have 60 days in which to report on it. In Stage 2,
the Government lay before Parliament a draft order, either in
its original form or amended to take account of the two committees'
views, for approval by resolution of each House. In the Lords
a motion to approve a draft order can be moved only after the
Committee has made a second report on it.
The first deregulation proposal was deposited in Parliament on 5 April 1995. The Committee
reported on 27 proposals in the period April 1995 - 16 October
1996, and rejected one proposal and recommended amendments to
10 others, which meant that in a majority of cases the Committee
recommended that a draft order in the same terms as the proposals
should be laid before the House. In the short 1996-97 session
the Committee found that amendments were needed to a higher proportion
of proposals. It reported on 16 Stage 1 proposals, and 15 Stage
2 draft orders. In seven cases it recommended that a draft order
in the same terms as the proposals should be laid before the House.
It recommended amendments to 8 Stage 1 proposals. In addition,
the Committee reported that it would be inappropriate to proceed
with one proposal as there appeared to be a doubt whether it was
intra vires - within the powers of the 1994 Act. The Government
have always agreed to make the amendments which the Committee
has proposed.
In examining a deregulation proposal the Committee
considers whether:
(1) it is intra vires;
(2) it removes a burden;
(3) it removes any "necessary protection"; (the 1994
Act requires that the amendment or repeal of existing primary
legislation must be done "without removing any necessary
protection");
(4) consultation (also required by the 1994 Act) has been adequate.
June 1997