Lord Bishop of Oxford
Main Page: Lord Bishop of Oxford (Bishops - Bishops)
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
The House is jumping to the wrong conclusion. If your Lordships look back to a year ago, you will see that I also spoke in that debate and, on that occasion, I had put forward six proposals. None of those was accepted and I still thought that the committee had done a damn good job.
Particularly with the noble Lord, Lord McFall, in the chair—like with his predecessor the noble Lord, Lord Laming—a huge amount of careful work is done. The noble Lord, Lord McFall, spent hours and hours going into this and discussing options with the staff. In the end, someone will always be disappointed—more than one on this occasion, although only one has raised it.
I would go along with what my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours has said, and if further resources are available, the topic ought to be looked at carefully. But I hope that will not stop this report being endorsed, because as I understand it, the committees need to be up and running immediately after the Queen’s Speech if they are to be effective. If we delay endorsing this report until after Easter, that will not be possible. I hope we will give a vote of confidence to the noble Lord, Lord McFall, and to the staff of the Liaison Committee, who have done a tremendous job.
Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)
I would like, very briefly, to commend the committee for its work on a very wide and interesting range of subjects, but in particular for the way, at least in respect of one proposal, it has managed to put together three proposals. That seems to me to be a very satisfactory way of approaching this, if it is possible.
Lord Fox (LD)
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord opposite who spoke about how sometimes excellent and well-researched reports fall on fallow ground as far as publicity is concerned, but I disagree with his conclusion that it is up to the authorities to do something about these reports. It is very much up to those of us who sit on these committees to work hard to get these reports out into the public domain. We are the people who can talk these reports up and get them out among the different constituencies which we have direct lines into. I encourage all of your Lordships to work very hard in making sure that the great work of these committees actually gets out there.