Clause 23 - Regional and Emergency Coordinators
Civil Contingencies Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Douglas Alexander (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Cabinet Office; Paisley South, Labour)
I am in dangerous waters in describing the relative merits of Ministers and competent officials. I will, none the less, seek to make some progress. The first point I make is that clearly, under our parliamentary system, Ministers are accountable for all actions under emergency regulations. That will include the appointment and functions of the regional nominated co-ordinators.
I think, therefore, that there is a genuine disagreement between ourselves and the submission that the hon. Gentleman referred to. We are keen to uphold the lead Government Department principle, in the sense that one of the bodies charged with
responsibility for drawing up the list of people will be lead Departments. For example, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will have responsibility on animal health and the Department of Health on public health. There will continue to be a direct involvement for the lead Departments.
On the other hand, we wanted to ensure that accountability was secured to Parliament over ministerial decisions. The Minister will be responsible for the appointment of the regional nominated co-ordinator. To suggest that there should be another structure with a regional level of accountability could confuse the degree of clarity that is valuable in ensuring that the Minister responsible will be accountable to this House for ensuring that the right person has been appointed.
To cover the ground that I have touched on, the individual appointed by the Minister to the post would be selected on the basis of specific expertise. Rather than, for example, the democratic mandate secured for an individual in one locality, it would be the technical expertise of the individual that would be an important element in their ability to exercise the personal authority necessary in an emergency. In that sense, I do not think that that usurps the role of local democracy. It supplements the democratic accountability of a Minister to this place with a degree of technical expertise that is in keeping with command authority in difficult circumstances—in the event of a contingency.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 23 ordered to stand part of the Bill.