Member

I am grateful to the Minister and his officials for the time he gave me before the summer to discuss these amendments and for the care he took in explaining the Government’s thinking. He told me then that he wanted to ensure consistency of approach on Delay Repay, which I took as recognition that operators today handle compensation very differently. Some do it well and some do it considerably less well. I share that objective entirely but, on the Government’s own timetable, all operators will be absorbed into GBR next year and consolidation alone does not guarantee consistent practice. Legacy systems and habits can persist inside a single organisation unless something requires otherwise. I have not found that requirement in the Bill or the Explanatory Notes, so I would welcome the Minister’s help in understanding whether he intends consistency to be secured in law through GBR’s licence conditions or through a mechanism of the kind proposed in Amendment 208. I remain glad to work with him and his officials on getting the details right and I look forward to his response.