Football Governance Bill [HL]

Lord Goodman of Wycombe Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 11th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bassam of Brighton (Lab)]

Paragraph (4) of the noble Lord’s amendment says the following:

“Where the relevant Parliamentary Committee has expressed a negative opinion on the appointment of the nominated person, the Secretary of State may not proceed with the appointment of the nominated person”.

According to my interpretation, that is clearly a veto. I am sure the Minister will reflect on the noble Lord’s words.

The other amendments in the group which the Minister has tabled today, and which my noble friend Lady Taylor and I have signed up to, are pretty straightforward and I am sure the House will support them. They simply make sure that there is a proper process to ensure declaration and registration of members of the regulatory board and the expert panel, and I commend the Minister for bringing those forward.

[Lord Goodman of Wycombe (Con)]

My Lords, in the debate on the sunset clause in Committee, it was evident that the Committee felt strongly that there should be greater post-legislative scrutiny. The Committee was clearly agreed on the end, if not necessarily the means. I am glad that since that was moved, the Minister has tabled amendments which are extremely helpful in that regard. I ask her, in that spirit of helpfulness, to respond to the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Maude of Horsham and me. Its effect is certainly capable of being interpreted in the way the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, has just described. It may be that the Minister has some alternative to offer at Third Reading, as my noble friend suggested, and we await with interest what she has to say.