Environment Bill (Twenty First sitting) Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Cherilyn Mackrory
Main Page: Cherilyn Mackrory (Conservative - Truro and Falmouth)Department Debates - View all Cherilyn Mackrory's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Environment Bill (Twenty First sitting)
Cherilyn Mackrory ExcerptsTuesday 24th November 2020
(3 years, 5 months ago)
Public Bill CommitteesRead Full debate Environment Act 2021 View all Environment Act 2021 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Public Bill Committee Amendments as at 24 November 2020 - (24 Nov 2020)
Cherilyn Mackrory (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)
I am just trying to clarify something. We have had various debates on the independence of the OEP and now the hon. Gentleman is asking Ministers to give their pre-emptive influence as to whether the OEP should do one thing or another. It might just be me, but I find that the Opposition amendments and new clauses are trying to pre-empt the OEP’s own terms of reference, which it will decide for itself.
Dr Whitehead
What I was doing was engaging in a bit of what-iffery. The Minister came back to me and said that the OEP could set up its own register, if it wanted to do. That is not what we want to do in the new clause; we just want a register to be set up—that is quite clear and straightforward. The OEP would have some discretion over what it consisted of, but the register would be there on the table for public record. That system operates in a lot of other legislatures and jurisdictions, to a greater or lesser extent. It does not bring the world tumbling down; it brings transparency.