Briefing supporting Government Amendment numbers 19 to 37 to Clauses 13 and 14 and Schedule 2
25 November 2015
This briefing supports Government Amendments 19 to 37 to Clauses 13 and 14 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Enterprise Bill.
At Committee stage, the Equality and Human Rights Commission supported amendments aimed at ensuring that the Bill’s new requirements on regulators would not place disproportionate burdens on the Commission, and at protecting our ability to operate independently in order to safeguard our ‘A’ status as a UN-accredited National Human Rights Institution. Government Amendments 19 to 37 address our concerns by:
- removing the requirements on regulators in Clause 13 and Schedule 2 to report to and provide information to Government about the Business Impact Target (BIT), replacing them with a duty to publish the relevant information, and
- exempting the Commission for Equality and Human Rights from the duty in Clause 14(10) to provide ad-hoc information to Government about performance under the Regulators’ Code.
The Commission welcomes these amendments, which deliver the Government’s intention of improving transparency about the effect of regulatory activities on business while safeguarding our ability to carry out our statutory functions free from Government direction or control.
We also strongly welcome the Minister’s assurance in Grand Committee that the Commission will not be subject to the growth duty contained in the Deregulation Act 2015 when the relevant secondary legislation is brought forward. Her assurance, together with the amendments to Clauses 13 and 14 and Schedule 2, address many of our earlier concerns about actual or perceived constraints on our operational independence.
Last updated: 07 Apr 2016