INTRODUCTION
1. The Annual Report and Accounts of the Office of
the Deputy Prime Minister for 2005 sets out the Department's strategic
priorities, its performance against targets in the financial year
2004-05 and its expenditure for the same period. It is the third
such report produced by the Department since it was established
in 2002.
2. The scrutiny of departmental expenditure, and
performance against targets, has been identified by the Liaison
Committee as best practice for select committees. We have accordingly
made it a priority, taking it as our first inquiry of the new
Parliament.
3. The Liaison Committee has also recommended the
scrutiny of major public appointments. Following the appointment
of Mr Peter Housden as the new Permanent Secretary to the ODPM
in October 2005, we conducted an introductory hearing in which
we questioned him about his strategic priorities for delivery
of the Government's agenda and management of his staff. Although
that hearing was not formally part of this inquiry, many of the
issues we discussed with Mr Housden arose from our earlier examination
of witnesses in relation to the Departmental Annual Report. We
have therefore chosen to include our comments on the introductory
hearing in this report.
4. We took oral evidence formally in connection with
the inquiry on two occasions. On the first occasion we heard from:
Mr Neil Kinghan, Director-General, Local Government and Fire Group;
Mr Richard McCarthy, Director-General, Sustainable Communities
Group; Mr Rob Smith, Director-General, Regional Development Group;
and Mr Peter Unwin, Director-General, Corporate Strategy and Resources
Group at the ODPM. At our second evidence session we took evidence
from Rt Hon. David Miliband MP, Minister of Communities and Local
Government; Yvette Cooper MP, Minister for Housing and Planning;
Mr Phil Woolas MP, Minister for Local Government; and Jim Fitzpatrick
MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.
5. We had hoped to meet the Deputy Prime Minister,
Rt Hon. John Prescott MP, as part of this process but he was unable
to accept our invitation. We understand that this was in part
because of the extra burdens imposed by the UK's EU Presidency.[1]
Mr Miliband assured us that he and Mr Prescott took joint responsibility
for all aspects of the Department's business.[2]
Nonetheless, we consider that there would have been additional
benefit in hearing the Deputy Prime Minister's perspective on
some of the important concerns we discussed with the Ministerial
team. We welcome the commitment to Parliamentary scrutiny demonstrated
by the Department's Ministers and senior officials, but we regret
Mr Prescott's absence from our inquiry. While we recognise
that the UK Presidency of the EU has created an unusual burden
on the Deputy Prime Minister, and for this reason we agreed to
delay his appearance before the Committee until early in 2006,
we believe that the most senior Minister in a Department should
make himself available to a parliamentary select committee when
his presence is sought. We look forward to meeting Mr Prescott
on 7 February.
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