Clause 7 - Inquiries where ministerial conduct in issue
Inquiries Bill [Lords]
3:00 pm
Mrs Anne Campbell (Cambridge, Labour)
The report of the Select Committee on Public Administration does not talk about misconduct. Instead, it recommends that the ombudsman should investigate alleged breaches of the ministerial code. The proposal is rather unfortunate because it refers to ministerial misconduct and at the same time causes the Minister to bring the inquiry. The amendments would force the Minister to do rather more than he would otherwise. Would a Budd inquiry happen if the amendments became part of the Bill?