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Lord Bassam of Brighton: My Lords, I am grateful for the questions that have been asked. I shall try to respond to them in turn as best I can, although I freely admit from the outset that I shall not be able to cover all the points raised.
The first of two questions asked by the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, related to the clarity of understanding that people might have of the new registration form with its extra tick-box. It is the case that the Electoral Commission intends to issue guidance to electoral registration officers on the information to be sent out with the form. Obviously, it will cover that aspect.
The noble Lord also made a point about the wording above the opt-out box, saying that it was slightly different. He is right about that, but we are satisfied that it has exactly the same effect. I have to advise the House that the wording cannot at this stage be changed for the purposes of these regulations.
The noble Lord, Lord Borrie, made a point about Regulation 114. This does not allow wider access with regard to financial services for the purposes of prevention of fraud more generally, beyond the specific requirements under the money laundering regulations. The Government consider that the proposed level of access strikes the right balance between private rights and public interest. This level of access allows our statutory obligations to be met.
The noble Lord suggested that we might consider placing a copy of the legal advice made available to the Government in the Library. It is a convention of government that we do not make available legal advice given to the Government. To do so would endanger legal professional privilege. But I hope that I have given a full explanation of the Government's view on the issues involved.
The noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, made a number of helpful and useful comments and observations. I do not intend to respond to them all, but it is worth reminding the House that, although the Electoral Commission has a firm and interesting view on the use to be made of electoral registers, it made it clear that it very much welcomed the Government's intention to
put in place a comprehensive regulatory framework for the purposes of ensuring consistency with the requirements of the European Data Protection Directive and the Data Protection Act 1998, and our desire to make sure that we are fully compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights and the provisions of the Human Rights Act. The commission, although it had its view, recognised that we had put in place a firm framework which attempted to secure the right balance.The noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, made a point about the way in which applicants might be disenfranchised. An applicant is given 21 days in which to state whether he or she wishes to be on the edited register. Applicants are put on the full register before being asked their wishes. So I do not think that they will be disenfranchised. They certainly should not be. If they were, we would want to know about that, because, clearly, the scheme would not be operating properly.
The noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, made a point about the register in Scotland. Registers of electors for UK parliamentary elections will be created and registers for local government elections in Scotland. The local government register is the register which is used for elections to the Scottish Parliament. The entitlement of MSPs to obtain copies of the full register, and the other circumstances in which access can be obtained to the full register in relation to elections to the Scottish Parliament, will be fully set out in an order under the Scotland Act later this year.
The noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, made some observations about the scheme. These issues were debated, as the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, said, very fully during the passage of the Representation of the People Act. The Government have worked hard and have consulted extensively to try to strike the right balance. We think that we have achieved that balance for the purpose of these regulations. For those reasons, I commend the regulations to the House.
Lord Goodhart: My Lords, before the noble Lord sits down, the most important point that I made was that relating to referendums and whether that was an electoral purpose.
Lord Bassam of Brighton: My Lords, I do not have an answer to that question. It is an extremely interesting point. I shall write to the noble Lord and circulate a copy of my response to all Members of this House who have contributed to the debate.
The other question that I did not cover related to copying. Yes, of course, we shall have to keep that carefully under review. Electronic copying is becoming easier in many forms and there are other ways in which data can rapidly be stored.
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Representation of the People (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2002
Lord Bassam of Brighton: My Lords, I beg to move.
Moved, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 26th June be approved [34th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Insider Dealing (Securities and Regulated Markets) (Amendment) Order 2002
8.39 p.m.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 12th June be approved [32nd Report from the Joint Committee].
The noble Lord said: My Lords, the draft statutory instrument before the House makes a limited number of changes to the list of securities markets to which insider dealing legislation applies.
Insider dealing is a serious crime that taints the integrity and efficiency of any financial market, whether it constitutes the passing of information informally between two people or the elaborate large-scale operation of an offshore syndicate involving many others. Anyone who invests in our financial markets expects a trading environment that is fair, trustworthy and confidential. If we do not have a sound regulatory regime that works towards those goals, we are failing the investor.
London is one of the world's leading financial centres and attracts institutions from all over the world to invest and set up their operations here. Being—and being seen to be—a clean place in which to do business is an important part of London's success. We are determined to maintain that.
The criminal offence of insider dealing is governed by Part V of the Criminal Justice Act 1993, which allows the Treasury to make an order specifying the regulated markets on which it is an offence to trade using inside information. The Insider Dealing (Securities and Regulated Markets) Order specifies the regulated markets. It was last amended in 2000. This order amends it again to add one overseas market, thereby bringing the securities traded on that market under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Justice Act for the purposes of insider dealing. The market concerned is SWX Swiss Exchange. The Swiss Exchange is a fully electronic trading system which, as part of the SWX group, offers integrated solutions in specific market segments on a cross-border basis.
Two other changes to the order are just the substitution of names. The first is Trade point, which, following an agreement with SWX Swiss Exchange, formed virt-x Exchange Limited. The new name needs to be changed on the list. Secondly, Cordeal became Coredeal MTS after its alliance with Euro MTS. Again, the list needs amending.
Finally, we would like to remove the words,
- "operated by J P Jenkins Limited",
It is important that the order is amended to keep market entries up to date. I commend the order to the House. I beg to move.
Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 12th June be approved [32nd Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord McIntosh of Haringey.)
Lord Kingsland: My Lords, we are perfectly content with the order.
Lord Shutt of Greetland: My Lords, this is simply an updating measure and raises no issues of policy. We are therefore happy to support it.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Well, then I am going to say something, my Lords. I do not think that this should be an affirmative instrument. It is exactly the kind of thing that should be dealt with by the negative procedure. We tried to do it generically, but that did not give enough specificity to enable people to know what publicly quoted exchanges they were dealing with. I think this is a very bad order. I commend it to the House.
Lord Kingsland: My Lords, if we thought that the noble Lord really thought that, we would have had plenty of things to say.
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Enterprise Bill
House again in Committee on Clause 8.
8.43 p.m.
Lord Sharman moved Amendment No. 30:
- Page 4, line 5, at end insert—
The noble Lord said: The amendment would ensure that the OFT worked closely with local authorities in promoting good practice. We touched on that in earlier amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral. Promoting good consumer practice will be a function of the OFT. The purpose of the amendment is to get an assurance from the Minister that the OFT will continue to work closely with local weights and measures authorities in exercising this power and to describe how the relationship will work in practice.
The OFT currently works closely with all local weights and measures authorities in the enforcement of a range of consumer protection legislation. LACORS, which is the co-ordinating body for a range of regulatory services including trading standards, helps to facilitate that relationship. The Local Government Association and LACORS would like to ensure that the current good working relationship will continue under the new legislation.
They believe that it is essential to ensure that effective co-ordination arrangements are formalised through the use of formal memorandums and concordats between the OFT, general enforcers, designated enforcers and appropriate self-regulatory bodies. It will be important to ensure that mechanisms are available to resolve any potential conflicts if more than one enforcement body wishes to take proceedings.
I can only endorse what the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, said on an earlier amendment. We must have good, consistent application of the standards across the country. I beg to move.
"( ) In pursuance of its function under subsection (1) above the OFT shall work with every local weights and measures authority in Great Britain to—
(a) ensure the delivery of coordinated, consistent enforcement,
(b) improve consumer protection, and
(c) develop more competitive markets."
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