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Mr. Graham Riddick (Colne Valley): Would not the Liberal Democrats' policies of weakening the veto and handing more power to the European Parliament undermine ministerial responsibility and accountability to the House?
Mr. Campbell: I think that I am correct in saying that the hon. Gentleman takes an interest in defence matters. He will be aware that, under article V of the north Atlantic treaty, the United Kingdom is bound to go to the defence of any one of the 15 members of NATO, including, for example, Greece or Turkey, and that we are bound to do so using nuclear weapons, if necessary. That shows that a sovereign Parliament can, by treaty, cede certain of its responsibilities. What was the Single European Act if it was not a formal cession of sovereignty from the House to Europe? If we choose to do that, we do so in the exercise of the responsibility that has been conferred on us by the electorate.
As we sign treaties, we can abrogate them--the sovereignty of Parliament is not affected. The suggestion that qualified majority voting, which already exists in certain areas, is somehow an abrogation of the doctrine of ministerial responsibility, as it applies to the obligation on Ministers to take responsibility for their own actions is, if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, somewhat constitutionally inept.
Dr. Norman A. Godman (Greenock and Port Glasgow):
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said not so long ago that, were he to be found guilty of what I might term conduct unbecoming of a Cabinet Minister, he would resign forthwith. Surely his Cabinet colleagues hold to the same code of honour.
Mr. Campbell:
It is not for me to lay down a code of honour for the Cabinet. That is an issue on which members of the Cabinet must satisfy themselves and the electorate. In a sense, I think that the hon. Gentleman seeks to anticipate the Scott report. I have studiously tried to avoid doing so; I have merely put forward some hypotheses that I think might legitimately test the argument and the extent to which the doctrine and convention of ministerial responsibility can be applied.
What matters is not only the form of responsibility but its substance. The House will recall that the Home Secretary told us that the chief executive of the Prison Service was dismissed because of operational shortcomings in the service. The right hon. and learned Gentleman said that he took no responsibility for operational matters. We were told that policy was for him alone and that operations were for the chief executive.
If we are to believe the chief executive, however, he met the Home Secretary almost every day to discuss the Prison Service. Are we to believe that in the course of an extensive relationship only issues of policy were discussed? I do not believe it. Allegations have been made that on occasion the Home Secretary made recommendations, as it were, to the director about the way in which certain prisoners should be dealt with. If that is not involvement in operational matters, what is it?
Did the Home Secretary go to his party conference and receive a standing ovation on the understanding that he took no responsibility for operational matters? When the blue-rinsed matrons of Surbiton rose to Lord Archer's invocation that "Michael should stand and deliver"--the noble Lord has much style, but not much originality--did they do so on the understanding that the right hon. and learned Gentleman would maintain an Olympian detachment from operational matters? Of course they did not. They did so because they were led to believe that, in terms of the Prison Service, the Home Secretary would be a hands-on Minister.
There was then the legendary failure of the shadow Home Secretary, the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw), either to anticipate or to answer the question whether Mr. Lewis should have been sacked. The logical position is that, if Mr. Lewis and the Home Secretary were both engaged in operational matters and there was a failure in that regard, both of them should have gone. It is a pity that the quick wit of the shadow Home Secretary did not permit him at least to anticipate that question and to give that answer.
What does the erosion of ministerial responsibility tell us about government? It tells us, first, that there is a great deal of arrogance in government. It tells us that there is an unwillingness to be held accountable. It perhaps tells us that there is a great deal of self-satisfaction in government.
What are the consequences of the erosion of ministerial responsibility? They include a deep cynicism among the electorate about the governance of Britain. It is clear beyond any question that the political system has never been held in less respect than it is now.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Roger Freeman):
I beg to move, to leave out from "House" to the end of the Question and to add instead thereof:
To claim that there has been an erosion of ministerial responsibility is contradicted by the facts. The Government have not only adhered to the principle; we have clarified it, sharpened it and taken care to explain it to a wide public audience. I shall respond to the motion by considering how Ministers have discharged their responsibilities in five broad areas.
First, I shall deal with Ministers' responsibility to their own civil servants. Secondly, I shall deal with their responsibilities to next steps agencies. Thirdly, there are Ministers' responsibilities for non-departmental public bodies. Fourthly, I shall refer to ministerial accountability to Parliament. Finally, I shall take up Ministers' responsibilities to the public at large.
First, there is ministerial responsibility for the civil service. Any examination of the subject would be incomplete without dealing with the role of the civil service. The Government regard the civil service as a precious asset that other countries have good reason to envy. In our view, the responsibility of Ministers is not confined to accounting for the actions of the civil service. We have a responsibility for the civil service and to it. We are determined to take such steps as are necessary to maintain its essential character, which is based upon integrity, political impartiality, selection and promotion on merit and accountability, through Ministers, to Parliament.
That is the background to our introduction of the new civil service code. The code provides a succinct statement of the constitutional framework of the civil service and the values that every civil servant is expected to uphold. It restates that civil servants owe their loyalty to Ministers and that Ministers must account to Parliament. We are indebted to the Select Committee on the Treasury and Civil Service, whose original draft provided the model to which we stayed very close.
The code restates the established constitutional framework of accountability to which the Government are committed, but it also contains an important innovation. It provides a right of appeal to the independent civil service commissioners for any civil servant who believes that he or she is being required to act in a way that is illegal, improper or unethical; that breaches constitutional convention or a professional code; that may involve maladministration; or that otherwise breaches the code or raises a fundamental issue of conscience.
The code came into force on 1 January and it deserved more attention than it got. Not only does the concise code apply to every civil servant, but, more importantly, there has been wide consensus on its substance. The House will agree that it is of the utmost importance that the civil service should command the confidence of both present and alternative Administrations. We welcome the view that was expressed in the fifth report 1993-94 by the Select Committee on the Treasury and Civil Service on "The Role of the Civil Service". It stated that there was little doubt that civil servants would be able to demonstrate a high level of commitment to any incoming Government.
Secondly, the report stated that the commitment by the overwhelming majority of civil servants to the principle and practice of a politically impartial civil service is undiminished. Thirdly, it said that the next steps reforms were in principle compatible with the maintenance of the traditional values of the civil service.
Mr. A. J. Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed):
Was not this relationship between Ministers, civil servants and Parliament fatally and permanently undermined when Mrs. Thatcher did not take responsibility for authorising the leak of the letter of the Solicitor-General in the Westland case and did not see it as necessary to dismiss any civil servant for giving that authorisation without her permission?
"welcomes the Government's policies for discharging Ministerial accountability to Parliament, for improving the management and delivery of public services, for maintaining high standards in public bodies, and for improving the openness and responsiveness of the public sector, thus creating a framework for good Government.".
12 Feb 1996 : Column 678
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