Scotland Bill

Debate between Lord Wallace of Tankerness and Lord Browne of Belmont

Thursday 15th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Browne of Belmont]

I have no idea where distinguished Members of this House might be at this time of night—but, certainly, those who have sense are not here. My point is that this matter needs to be dealt with within the existing structures, in which we have had confidence for many years and which have been proof to these sorts of challenges in the past. Consequently—and I do not think that on this occasion my noble friend Lord Foulkes will be disappointed in me—I cannot support his amendment. However, the nature of the short debate that we have had has revealed the need for some broader discussion than we get in some newspapers in Scotland and some reassurance from the Civil Service itself that it will be able robustly to address these issues, or at least to explain in a persuasive way that the impartiality of the Civil Service has not been undermined.

Finally, I remind my noble friend Lord Foulkes of Cumnock of the debate on his Amendment 51, which sought to amend Clause 27 by constraining discussions between representatives of the devolved Administration —the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government—and foreign Governments. He was, on that occasion, persuaded that the strictures that he was seeking to impose on the representatives of the Scottish Government could not have been policed and would not have been realistic. I suspect that if we had time to go over the criticisms of his current amendment, he would have come to that conclusion again. I just remind him of how he was persuaded by my noble and learned friend Lord Boyd on that occasion and trust he will get back into that state of mind when it comes to responding to this short debate.

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness]

Picking up where the noble Lord, Lord Browne, left off, to be fair the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, did say in moving his amendment that perhaps it was not necessarily one that he would wish to push. He recognised too that there would be some occasions when it would be appropriate for civil servants in the Scottish Government to engage in issues that were reserved. Indeed, the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, highlighted the fact that with Section 30 orders—one of the early ones was on railways—that sort of engagement would not be unreasonable on that basis.

Nevertheless, the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, has generated a debate which I am sure will be noted beyond the walls of this Chamber. I echo what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Browne, and my noble friend Lord Forsyth, about the very high quality of the Civil Service, which I have experienced as a Minister in the Scottish and United Kingdom Governments. We now have a position whereby a statutory basis for management of the Civil Service was set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, an important measure. Civil servants working for the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government are all part of the United Kingdom Civil Service, and, crucially, the Civil Service Code forms part of civil servants’ terms and conditions of service. The code sets out the core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality, and the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. As the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, observed, the continuity that civil servants have been able to bring, not least in times of uncertainty following the election in 2010, has been quite remarkable, and one pays tribute to them for that.

It is the job of civil servants to support the elected Government of the day, and the Civil Service Code recognises the fact that civil servants working for the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government are required to support those Governments. As the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, said, in the area of devolution tensions are inevitable. Likewise, civil servants working for the United Kingdom Government are able to advise their Ministers on matters which are the responsibility of other Governments. It is important that civil servants recognise their obligations under the code and support their Ministers to the best of their ability, even in politically sensitive areas, when Administrations have different policies and different priorities. They must ensure that they remain politically neutral and avoid public advocacy of political views.

In the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, he grasped the sensitivity of this issue and raised some important points that will not be resolved in this debate or this Bill but are important and have to be considered. I was thinking of an example whereby the Scottish Government have executive devolution responsibilities for renewable energy. Likewise, matters of transmission charges are a responsibility for the UK Government. But it would be very awkward if not impossible for the Scottish Government to make decisions on renewable energy without having some advice and support from their civil servants about implications for transmission charges, so it is not always easy to disentangle respective responsibilities.

Comment has been made on various issues that have been highlighted publicly. The noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, asked about the present Cabinet Secretary, who has been fully cited on these issues and has recently visited Scotland. I am advised that he reiterated that it was appropriate for United Kingdom civil servants to work to support their Ministers in pursuing their objectives, even though that may mean in an era of devolution the pursuit of a different policy aim when Administrations have different objectives. It is important to reiterate once again that one great strength of the Civil Service, which has come through in this debate, is that both of these things—objective support for Ministers and political impartiality—should be taken seriously.

I do not intend to comment on the specific wording used by Sir Peter in his recent communications to staff. Whether or not a particular civil servant has acted in accordance with the code is not ultimately a matter for Ministers to determine; it is an internal issue for the Civil Service, and it would be improper for me to go over that line. What is essential is that civil servants support their Ministers firmly within the parameters set by the Civil Service Code.