Appendix
The Report is a follow-up to the previous Committee's
First Report of the session 2004-5 on Government by Inquiry (HC
51), in which the Committee recommended that:
"in future inquiries into the conduct and actions
of government should exercise their authority through the legitimacy
of Parliament in the form of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry
composed of parliamentarians and others, rather than by the exercise
of the prerogative power of the Executive."
The Government notes that the recommendations in
the present report are primarily addressed to Parliament itself.
The first recommendation is that Parliament should
be able to initiate and conduct inquiries of its own. The Government
notes this recommendation which is principally a matter for the
House. It shares the Committee's view that Members, and Parliament
as a whole, have a great deal to offer inquiries. However, it
wishes to make clear that it does not share the Committee's view
that it is more legitimate and serves the interests of accountability
more effectively for Parliament, rather than the Executive, to
inquire into the actions of executive Government.
The Government notes the second recommendation, which
is a matter for the Procedure Committees of both Houses.
The Committee's third recommendation is that membership
and chairmanship of a Commission should be decided carefully to
avoid the inquiry being undermined by partisanship or political
concerns. The Government notes this recommendation which is also
a matter for the Houses.
The Government also notes the recommendation that
all members of the inquiry should be Privy Counsellors and the
further recommendation that members could be made Privy Counsellors
for the purpose. Membership of the Privy Council is conferred
by HM The Queen, acting on the advice of Ministers. It is a lifetime
honour, usually limited to Government Ministers, Opposition leaders,
senior judges and occasionally to very senior backbenchers. There
would be issues to be considered about the whether it would be
appropriate to confer this status on someone for the purposes
of undertaking a specific task. Parliament itself could not make
a recommendation for Privy Council membership, still less confer
the status.
The Committee's fourth recommendation addresses the
question of the way any Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry would
work, including its powers to compel witnesses and evidence. The
powers of any Select Committee to send for 'persons, papers and
records' are already broad, and the Government would expect similar
powers to be made available to any Parliamentary Commissions of
Inquiry. The powers of such a Commission would be a matter for
the House itself. The Committee has already recommended that the
Procedure Committee should consider the rules for setting up a
Commission, and the Government assumes that it would also wish
that Committee to look at existing parliamentary powers which
might be developed or used in a way that would meet PASC's objectives.
The Committee's recommendations are addressed
to Parliament. The Committee
does not clarify whether it is
recommending legislation for extra powers to allow a new kind
of Commission similar to Government Commissions. The
Government believes that
any such legislation to regulate the internal workings of
Parliament would be inappropriate.
October 2008
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