Clause 2
Crown Employment (Nationality) Bill
10:45 am
Greg Knight (East Yorkshire, Conservative)
It may be a Tory, but I do not assume, because I am a Conservative, that I can trust all of my right hon. and hon. Friends. [Hon. Members: “It could be you.”] Indeed, it could be me—I am not sure that I always trust myself. Trust is not needed, if there is proper scrutiny. Scrutiny is all the more important when the decision may not be made by a Minister, because even if the Minister is outwith scrutiny on a narrow decision, under our system, unlike the American system, Ministers have to answer to this House every single day.
Even if a Minister were able to give an exemption or to approve a rule which did not find favour in a part of the House, at least once a month that Minister has to come to the Dispatch Box and answer questions. To that extent, the Minister could be criticised. However, there is no such requirement on this mysterious
“any person or body to whom that power has been delegated”.
The Minister could quite easily give this power away and come to the Dispatch Box and say, “It is nothing to do with me. I have delegated the matter. I am not answerable now for this decision.” The gaping hole in the Bill is the lack of scrutiny on this point.