Government Bills Update: Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
This article provides an update on various Government Bills which are currently going through the Parliamentary process, including ones which have been reported in earlier editions of the Digest. It must be noted that this report only comments on the provisions of the Bills as they existed at the time of writing this article.
The Bills which have been published can be viewed in full at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pabills.htm
This article provides an update on various Government Bills which are currently going through the Parliamentary process, including ones which have been reported in earlier editions of the Digest. It must be noted that this report only comments on the provisions of the Bills as they existed at the time of writing this article.
The Bills which have been published can be viewed in full at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pabills.htm
The January 06 Digest summarised the effects the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill could have on policing. Since that article was written, the Bill has been amended at both the Committee and Report stages in the Commons and at the Committee stage in the Lords. These amendments have affected the two clauses which were highlighted in the original article, namely Clauses 6 (Criminal penalties) and 7 (Forcible entry).
Both of these clauses set limits on order-making powers:
- Clause 6 states that an order cannot create a new offence with penalties which exceed the level specified in the Clause. It also restricts any increase in penalties for existing offences so that they cannot exceed the specified levels.
- Clause 7 provides that an order cannot be made amending, repealing or replacing legislation which would authorise any forcible entry, search or seizure (however, an order may extend a pre-existing power to do any of these things, where the power is extended for purposes similar to those to which the power applied before the order was made).
Before the amendments, these restrictions did not apply where the order was made to implement a Law Commission Recommendation or where the order was merely restating legislation. The amended version of the Bill, however, only limits these exceptions to orders which restate an enactment. Therefore, orders which implement the recommendations of the Law Commission will be subject to the Clause 6 and 7 restrictions.
The Bill is currently awaiting Report stage consideration in the Lords.