Clause 7 - Inquiries where ministerial conduct in issue
Inquiries Bill [Lords]
3:00 pm
Mr Jonathan Djanogly (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Huntingdon, Conservative)
These, too, are important amendments. We have been witnessing the Government repeatedly taking advantage of their majority in this place to gnaw away at Parliament’s influence over the Executive. There is concern that, should that pattern continue, the checks and balances underlying our very constitution could be threatened and chipped away. Unfortunately, this Bill is no exception to the trend. Earlier, my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Hertfordshire spoke eloquently of the overreaching powers of the Government that are peppered throughout the Bill. In the Inquiries Bill, the most critical appropriation of power by the Government to the detriment of Parliament relates to ministerial misconduct, which is the subject of the amendments. Public inquiries into ministerial misconduct lie at the heart of Parliament’s role of ensuring ministerial responsibility. In its report, the Treasury and Civil Service Committee noted that the system of ministerial accountability depended upon
“two vital elements: clarity about who can be held to account and held responsible when things go wrong; and confidence that Parliament is able to gain the accurate information required to hold the Executive to account and to ascertain where responsibility lies”.
Inquiries enable Parliament to obtain that essential information, which should in turn clarify who should be held to account. However, despite the clear need for parliamentary involvement, the Government seem to be shunning it at every stage.