Lord Harper (Con)

My Lords, I had not intended to say anything, but I was provoked—in a nice way—by the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, and his advice, which was well meant, to the sponsor of the Bill, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer. I agree with him, but I think a bit more work is required. I referred earlier to the letter that the noble and learned Lord sent to Members of the House. I urge him to test his mailing list, because it did not go to all Members; I received a copy of it only from another Member, and it would be helpful if we all received a copy. I now hear from my noble friend Lord Deben that he has not received it at all. I have two things to say. First, I absolutely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, about the Delegated Powers Committee’s recommendations. It was pretty scathing about the number of powers the Bill gives to Ministers with very little oversight. If I am being fair, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, has engaged extensively with the recommendations of the committee in what he has set out. That is the good bit. But I do not think the noble and learned Lord has really taken on board the point the committee made because he has largely, as I see in his amendments, preserved the Bill’s delegated skeletal architecture. Rather than limiting executive power and putting safeguards and limits in the Bill, he has added in all sorts of things, such as scrutiny and consultation, at the back end. He has not actually got the point, which is that the Bill should not have those delegated powers in the first place. Exactly as the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, said, I humbly suggest accepting what the committee said and following its recommendations. That would be helpful. The second point is about pace. The Delegated Powers Committee reported in September last year, and only half way through Committee we got a letter from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, setting out his response to it. My experience as a Minister was that if we had received the report from the Delegated Powers Committee, as the Minister I would have been expected to have my response ready at the start of Committee—or, frankly, Members of your Lordships’ House would have stood up and said some very disobliging things.