Fourteenth Report
Education and Skills Bill — Government
Amendments
1. We reported on this Bill in our 10th Report
(HL Paper 120). The Government have now invited us to consider
amendments to be moved at Report, printed on sheet HL Bill 80-I.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families have provided
a supplementary memorandum on the amendments, printed at Appendix
1 to this Report. There is nothing in the delegations in the amendments
to which we wish to draw the attention of the House.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill
[HL] — Government Amendments
2. We reported on this Bill in our First Report
(HL Paper 11). We were invited to consider amendments made to
the Bill during its passage through the House of Commons, printed
on sheet HL Bill 83. The amendments were explained in a memorandum
by the Department of Health, printed at Appendix 2 to this Report.
These amendments were scheduled for consideration in the House
later on the day of our meeting. There was nothing in the amendments
to which we wished to draw the attention of the House by means
of an urgent report.
Local Transport Bill [HL] — Government
Amendments
3. We reported on this Bill in our First Report
(HL Paper 11). We have now been invited to consider amendments
made to the Bill during its passage through the House of Commons,
printed on sheet HL Bill 85. The amendments are explained in a
memorandum by the Department for Transport, printed at Appendix
3 to this Report.
4. Clause 87 provides that orders made under
clauses 73 and 78 to 86 of the Bill (powers to establish Integrated
Transport Authorities, and make provision about their constitution
and powers) will be statutory instruments subject to affirmative
resolution in each House. The Government considers that orders
made using some of these powers, in particular those transferring
functions between local authorities, might fall within this House's
hybrid statutory instruments procedure (which gives those whose
private interests are adversely affected the opportunity to petition
against the order). The memorandum explains that this could cause
"uncertainty and delay" which "would be detrimental
to the timely and effective use of the powers provided by the
Bill". The Government has therefore tabled amendment 167
to disapply the hybrid statutory instrument procedure. This
is not in itself unusual but we draw the disapplication to the
attention of the House, so that the House may satisfy itself that
the alternative consultation procedures set out in the memorandum
are an adequate alternative. There is nothing else in the
delegations in the amendments to which we wish to draw the attention
of the House.
Pensions Bill — Government Amendments
5. We reported on this bill in our 9th Report
(HL Paper 111) and published the Government's response in our
10th Report (HL Paper 120). The Government have now invited us
to consider Report stage amendments, printed on sheet HL Bill
79-I(c). The Department for Work and Pensions have provided a
supplementary memorandum on the amendments, printed at Appendix
4 to this Report. The majority of these amendments were considered
by the House on Monday 27 October; the remainder were due to be
considered later on the day of our meeting. There is nothing in
the delegations in the amendments to which we wish to draw the
attention of the House.
Draft Legislative Reform (Verification
of Weighing and Measuring Equipment) Order 2008
Background
6. This draft Order was laid on 20 October, under
the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 ("the 2006
Act"). The Order is to be made under the burden-reducing
power in section 1 of the 2006 Act. An Explanatory Document (ED)[1]
has been laid with the draft Order, prepared by the National Weights
and Measures Laboratory ("NWML").
7. Weighing and measuring equipment which is
used for trade is subject to statutory checking requirements -
verification - at certain points in its life cycle. Verification
typically takes place before prescribed equipment is first marketed
or used, and again after it has undergone installation, repair
or adjustment. Under the Weights and Measures Act 1985 ("the
1985 Act") manufacturers, installers or repairers of prescribed
equipment who have become "approved verifiers" are able
to verify equipment which they have themselves manufactured,
installed or repaired. However, they are not currently
permitted to verify equipment which they have adjusted (this
is work that falls short of repair, for example to make equipment
measure more accurately when it is already within the prescribed
limits of accuracy). Post-adjustment verification may only be
carried out by an official inspector. NWML comment that this "appears
to have been an unintended consequence" of the drafting of
previous legislation (para. 15), and state that by amending the
1985 Act the Order would remove this unintended consequence by
allowing approved verifiers to verify equipment which they themselves
have adjusted.
8. The ED states that the only sector likely
to be significantly affected by the Order is the petrol retailing
industry, as fuel dispensers tend to be adjusted for accuracy
more often than many other kinds of measuring instruments because
their accuracy drifts due to normal wear of the meter (para. 23).
The ED also explains that the proposals were subject to a consultation
exercise between July and October 2005, details of which are given
in Annex B to the ED. The consultation revealed an overall level
of 60% support. This is far from overwhelming, but there was a
relatively low number of responses (30), and the level of support
can be explained in part by the fact that several responses from
the trading standards community reflected that community's broader
concerns about the existing approved verifiers regime (to
which NWML respond fully in the ED and accompanying documentation),
and not solely the specific proposal to extend the regime to adjustment.
Opinion of the Committee
9. Having considered the draft Order carefully
the Committee considers that it meets the tests in the 2006 Act;
that it is not otherwise inappropriate to be made by delegated
legislation; and that it meets the tests applied to other instruments
by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.
10. The 2006 Act allows the Government to propose
the negative, affirmative or super-affirmative procedure for each
LRO, with either House able to upgrade the procedure if it so
wishes within 30 days from the date on which the Order was laid.
The Government have proposed the affirmative procedure for this
draft Order: we do not consider that procedure inappropriate.
1 http://www.nwml.gov.uk/Admin/Docs/Regulatory_Reform_Order/Explan%20Doc%20IA%20Sig%20Oct08.DOC Back
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