Public Bodies Bill [HL]

Lord Rosser Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd November 2010 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Rosser]

4: Clause 1, page 1, line 3, at beginning insert “Subject to the provisions of section (Commencement),”

[Lord Rosser]

My Lords, this is a Bill that lacks detail and it lacks background information. As we heard at Second Reading and again today, this Bill falls into the surprising category, bearing in mind what it seeks to do, of being a framework Bill. It is through this barebones framework that Parliament is asked, in effect, not to insist on its function of scrutinising amendments to primary legislation. The amendment I am moving on behalf of my noble friends suggests that more information is required before such a move can be contemplated. This is a probing amendment and its purpose, and that of Amendment 180, is to ask the Government to explain what their intentions are about providing necessary information. Our view is that this information should be provided before the Act, and any powers granted under it, come into force. Our Amendment 180 would change the commencement date of the Bill to a date determined in an order made by the Minister, but the amendment also provides that such an order,

“cannot be made unless, at least one month before making the order the Minister has laid before Parliament a statement outlining … how and by whom the functions of the bodies listed in Schedules 1 to 6 are to be carried out in future; and … the expected costs and liabilities associated with the proposed changes to the bodies listed in Schedules 1 to 6”.

Clause 30 in the Bill as drafted states that the Bill comes into force,

“at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which it is passed”.

It is unclear why two months are required and again no information has been provided on this point. The amendment we propose provides a flexible timespan so should not present an issue. Such a statement, as called for in the amendment, and provided at least a month before the commencement order, will enable Parliament to consider the issues around the proposed arm’s-length body reform agenda of the Government, and it will provide a much more effective scrutiny role of the actions and decisions of the Executive than is currently provided in the Bill. To put in plainly, it will answer questions about who will be doing what and how; how much is it going to cost; and what will fall through the cracks. Such transparency will benefit both your Lordships’ House and the other place—most particularly in the light of the Minister’s edict earlier this evening that the public bodies in the schedules could not express a view about the impact of the Bill on their functions and activities. It will also increase the understanding of affected persons and the public at large about the Government’s intentions for these bodies, the thinking behind those intentions, and what the impact will be on people’s lives. How else can the Government be held to account without this information?

A further advantage of providing a statement to Parliament covering the issues referred to in Amendment 180 is that such a requirement would help to ensure that Ministers exercise their very considerable powers under the Bill in a responsible and considered way. After all, Ministers should not be tempted to take advantage of the opportunity to make an order under the Bill without first having set out well beforehand the changes and impacts resulting from the decision and the associated liabilities. Ministers should be under no illusion that the powers vested in them through the Bill are to be treated responsibly and should be exercised openly rather than from behind semi-closed doors.

The Government need to be clear about and understand the implications of their public bodies reform agenda, whereas this House needs to be able to test that Ministers have made clear and logical decisions about which functions a body need, or need no longer, carry out. We need to be reassured and satisfied that no functions that are currently being carried out have been overlooked and not considered. Where functions are to be transferred, we need to be satisfied that no conflicts of interest would be created and that the body or person to whom the functions are to be transferred has the competence and the knowledge to undertake that role.

We also need to be sure that a proper and realistic assessment has been made of the costs, savings and liabilities associated with any intended changes to bodies in order to be satisfied that all costs and potential costs, as well as quality-of-service and provision issues, have been properly addressed and assessed. That is particularly relevant where, for example, some 65 per cent of the costs of a non-departmental public body relates to grants that are passed on to other organisations to fund universities, scientific research, skills training, legal aid and other core government functions.

Amendments 4 and 180 would help us to achieve those necessary and important objectives—I stress the word “help”—but they should not be seen in isolation. The Constitution Committee’s report on the Bill states that,

“the Bill vastly extends Ministers’ powers to amend primary legislation by order. Such powers … must be clearly limited, exercisable only for specific purposes, and subject to adequate parliamentary oversight”.

In the view of the committee, the Bill does not meet those tests. As a responsible Opposition who believe in open and accountable government, we have tabled several amendments designed to strengthen the procedure to which the draft orders made under the Bill will be subject before they become law. Those amendments include our proposal for a super-affirmative resolution process and provision for an explanatory note to accompany a draft order when it is laid before Parliament. We foresee that such notes would include more detailed regulatory impact information about the particular proposal, whereas the information in the statement proposed under Amendment 180 would provide a high-level assessment.

The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Mr Francis Maude, has spoken about the need for greater accountability and transparency in public bodies. He has noted that the existence of what he described as “too many bodies” has,

“meant that elected politicians have been able to avoid making difficult and tough decisions. This is a direct challenge to accountability and is contrary to openness and transparency in public services that this Government seek to achieve”.—[Official Report, Commons, 14/10/10; col. 27WS.]

In the light of that Statement, do the Government really intend, as they could under the Bill, to abolish bodies such as Consumer Focus, the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council or the office of the Chief Coroner without a statutory requirement to provide the basis on which the decision has been made? That certainly does not sit well with the words of the Minister for the Cabinet Office about the Government’s goals of greater accountability, transparency and openness.

We agree that transparency and accountability to the public are important, but transparency and accountability should apply not just to arm’s-length bodies but to Ministers and Governments. That will be provided not by Ministers quietly changing functions and operations of public bodies under the current terms of the Bill but by their providing the information that is necessary for the proper scrutiny of those decisions. I hope that, when the Minister responds, he will set out in some detail what information in line with our amendments the Government intend to provide to Parliament to enable it to carry out its role of scrutinising the actions and intentions of the Government that are exercised under the terms of the Bill. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

As noble Lords will know, an amendment follows on from this that concerns functions—not this evening, I hasten to add; this is just a trailer for Monday—so we will look at another amendment that reinforces the message of this amendment and the intervention by my noble friend Lord Maclennan.

We do not intend to hide anything but there is a difference between presenting a statement covering the whole Bill before the Bill is implemented, and explanatory documents giving full information each time a statutory instrument is laid. The Government take the view that that is the focus that Parliament requires, and that to seek to provide a comprehensive review of all reforms in the Bill before it can be enacted would be an unnecessary delay, and not necessarily a particularly precise operation. That is why I suggested to the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, that he withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Rosser]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his response, and other noble Lords who have participated in this brief debate. During it, reference was made to difficulties in obtaining the kind of information sought under the terms of the amendment. Yet that is presumably information that the Government have already, or how were decisions made on which bodies it would be advantageous to place in Schedules 1 to 6 if some decisions had not already been made as to whether their functions needed to be continued in future, or whether their functions could be placed better elsewhere and what the costs would be? There is some difficulty in accepting that the Government do not already have the information sought in the amendment.

One argument that the Minister just put forward was that there would be delay to the programme, but surely that should not be the primary consideration. The primary consideration should be providing the information necessary for this House to make decisions on what the Government intend to do, to scrutinise those actions and to query them. In the light of what the Minister said, it is clear that his motive is not to provide this House with sufficient information in good time to make reasoned judgments; his only consideration appears to be to get through his programme as quickly as possible. An open, transparent and accountable Government need to declare their hand, thinking and reasoning before the Bill comes into force, to ensure proper time for debate based on considered statements by the Government setting out which functions of which bodies will go, which functions will be transferred and to whom, how they will be carried out in future and the costs involved.

I am sorry that the Minister has not been prepared to go further. As I said, I believe that the Government already have much of this information, and the concern is that when the information is provided it will not be in sufficient time for proper debate and consideration before the Government seek to push the order through Parliament. I am disappointed with the Minister’s reply. He could have gone further; he has been urged to. I hope that he will reflect on the matter; I certainly will. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment 4 withdrawn.