The bill was published last month to facilitate coalition plans to reform and abolish a large number of non-departmental public bodies. It has been reviewed by the House of Lords committee on delegated powers and regulatory reform, which considers whether proposed legislation gives too much power to ministers.

A report from the committee said the powers contained in clauses 1 to 5 and 11 of the Public Bodies Bill as they are currently drafted "are not appropriate delegations of legislative power". "They would grant to ministers unacceptable discretion to rewrite the statute book, with inadequate parliamentary scrutiny of, and control over, the process.”

“With the exception of the three clauses… every clause in the bill either creates, or relates to, the exercise of delegated powers,” said the report.” The powers would, if granted, be available not just to present ministers in existing circumstances, but to all future governments in other circumstances as well.”

The report notes that the bill “treats all of the bodies in the same way, whether they are purely advisory or exercise executive, judicial or legislative functions,” an approach which has created “numerous difficulties”.

Clauses 1 to 5 enable ministers to abolish, merge or modify the constitutional arrangements or funding arrangements of public bodies listed in several schedules attached to the bill. The bill also contains a list – Schedule 7 –  of existing public bodies which will not be abolished or reformed. Ministers can, under Clause 11, move bodies from this list onto any of the previous lists of organisations eligible for reform or abolition.

The report suggested powers in the bill could be restricted either by removing certain powers, adding more detail on how powers could be exercised, introducing safeguards to give public bodies independence from “unnecessary ministerial interference”, removing certain bodies from Schedule 7 altogether, enhancing procedures for scrutiny of orders made under the bill, or introducing a sunset clause into the bill.

The full report can be read here.

Written by CSW