House of Commons - Work of the Committee in 2008-09

Work of the Committee in 2008-09 - Public Administration Committee Contents

2 The Committee's activity in relation to the 'Core Tasks'

5. On 14 May 2002 the House, by Resolution, invited the Liaison Committee to establish common objectives for select committees. The Liaison Committee subsequently issued a list of indicative core tasks, and has asked departmental select committees to reflect these in their annual reports. These are set out in Annex A. Although our remit is wider than a single department, we have found it helpful to consider our work against them. The table below shows the relationship of our inquiries and evidence sessions to these core tasks. A detailed commentary is then set out in the paragraphs which follow. Where the pieces of work by the Committee fulfil more than one of the core tasks, we discuss the work in the section to which it is most directly relevant.

Government and EU policy

proposals Examination of emerging

policies and of deficiencies Draft bills Decisions and documents Work and expenditure of the Cabinet Office and associated Public bodies Major appointments Implementation of legislation

and major policy initiatives Informing debates in the

House Evidence from Ministers

Good Government x x x

Lobbying x x

Equitable Life x x x x x

The Work of the Cabinet Office x x

The Work of the Ombudsman x x

Leaks and Whistleblowing in Whitehall x x x

The Iraq Inquiry x x x x

An Elected Second Chamber x x

House of Lords Appointments x x

Committee on Standards in Public Life x

Official Statistics x x x x

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill x

Official Language x

Outside Appointments to the Civil Service x x

Executive Pay in the Public Sector x x

Ministerial and Other Appointments from Outside Parliament x x

Special Advisers x x x

Operation of the Honours System x x

Civil and Public Service Issues x x x

To examine policy proposals from the UK Government and the European Commission in Green Papers, White Papers, draft Guidance etc, and to inquire further where the Committee considers it appropriate.

6. On 15 June 2009 the Prime Minister announced an inquiry into the Iraq War. We have a long-standing interest in the conduct of public inquiries. Anticipating the Government's announcement, the Committee had held a seminar under the Chatham House rule bringing together key figures including chairs of previous inquiries, Members of both Houses of Parliament, former diplomats and others with relevant knowledge and expertise. Following the seminar the Chairman wrote to the Prime Minister outlining our findings and we subsequently issued a short report making recommendations on how the inquiry should be conducted.

7. In July 2008 the Government published a White Paper An Elected Second Chamber: Completing the Reform. We responded to the White Paper with a short report building on the substantial work that this Committee undertook on House of Lords reform in the last Parliament and repeating our call for interim measures between now and the completion of Lords reform.

To identify and examine areas of emerging policy, or where existing policy is deficient, and make proposals.

8. Despite an increasingly negative public perception of professional lobbying, our inquiry into Lobbying: Access and influence in Whitehall was the first undertaken by a Parliamentary Committee since 1991. In January 2009 we produced a report recommending major reforms, including a new register of lobbying activity, a rigorous and effective single body to oversee the activities of lobbyists and a strengthened and refreshed Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, to ensure transparency and effective regulation. This was a major piece of work that has prompted the lobbying industry to look again at its system of self-regulation and the Government to adopt some moves towards greater transparency.

9. The arrest of Damian Green MP in November 2008 led us to investigate the wider issues around the prevention and investigation of leaks and the treatment of whistleblowers. Our report, Leaks and Whistleblowing in Whitehall, was published in August 2009. It made a number of recommendations aimed at preventing leaks from Government and concluded that the Civil Service needed more robust procedures to support whistleblowers who raised concerns in good faith.

10. Recruitment and personnel issues within the Senior Civil Service have been the focus of two of our inquiries. The prospect of cuts to public spending has meant that executive pay in the public sector has become an increasingly controversial issue. We have taken evidence on executive pay within Whitehall, the wider public sector and local government. We have also been examining outside appointments to the Senior Civil Service in the light of evidence of increasing numbers of such appointments. We expect to report on both these inquiries shortly.

11. Since June 2007 there has been a major in increase in the number of directly appointed ministers, who have been made members of the House of Lords in order to join the Government. This has led some commentators to propose major reforms to the way government ministers are appointed. We took evidence on these proposals from a number of eminent people, including the former Prime Minister Sir John Major, and intend to report before the end of the Parliament.

12. We also undertook a short inquiry into official language. The impenetrability of political and administrative language is often a target of mockery but can also have serious consequences. As well as taking oral evidence we invited Members of Parliament and the public to provide us with examples of good and bad official language.

To examine specific output from the department expressed in documents or other decisions.

13. The Parliamentary Ombudsman produced a report on Equitable Life on 17 July 2008 following a four year investigation. We produced an initial report, Justice Delayed: The Ombudsman's Report on Equitable Life, supporting the Ombudsman's findings of maladministration and injustice and making recommendations to the Government on how it should respond. The Government replied to the Ombudsman's findings in January 2009, following which we produced a second report, Justice denied? The Government's response to the Ombudsman's report on Equitable Life. We concluded

that the Government has chosen to act as judge on its own behalf by rejecting and qualifying a number of the Ombudsman's findings … for reasons which are not well explained.[2]

Our members have continued to support the Ombudsman's findings and to press the Government to accept them in full through debates in the House and Westminster Hall.

14. Following the high-profile sacking of one of the Prime Minister's special advisers we revisited the role of special advisers and their accountability.

To examine the expenditure plans and out-turn of the department, its agencies and principal NDPBs; To examine the department's Public Service Agreements, the associated targets and the statistical measurements employed, and report if appropriate.

15. We conduct annual scrutiny of the accounts, expenditure and performance of the Cabinet Office through correspondence on specific details of the Estimates and the Annual Report, followed by an evidence session with Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service, who is the accounting officer for the department. The session enables us to discuss not only financial operations, but also performance against Public Service Agreements and associated targets, and to raise wider issues of concern relating to the Civil Service and government. The quality of Cabinet Office's performance reporting continues to make it difficult to scrutinise its work as well as we would like. We have also taken evidence from the Ombudsman on her office's progress against its targets and from the Office for National Statistics on its preparations for the 2011 Census.

16. We have continued to benefit from significant support from the Committee Office Scrutiny Unit in our analysis of expenditure and administration issues and also on Equitable Life. The National Audit Office have also supported us in our work on the Cabinet Office Annual Report. We would like to express our gratitude for the expertise and assistance that we have received from both sources.

To monitor the work of the department's Executive Agencies, NDPBs, regulators and other associated public bodies.

17. The creation of the UK Statistics Authority in April 2008 meant that we took over scrutiny of the provision of official statistics from the Treasury Committee. The past Session saw us hold an evidence session on preparations for the 2011 Census. We also followed up concerns raised by the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority in relation to high profile controversies involving the use of statistics on knife crime and the release of migration statistics.

18. We have taken a long-standing interest in the operation of the honours system. In April 2009 we took evidence from some of those involved in nominating people to receive honours.

19. In the 2007-08 Session we held a pre-appointment hearing with the now Chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, Lord Jay of Ewelme. In July 2009 we reviewed the Commission's work during his first full year in post and examined related issues including the propriety of nominations for peerages that could emerge following a General Election.

To examine the implementation of legislation and major policy initiatives.

20. In June 2009 we published our report into Good Government. This report distilled much of the work of the Public Administration Select Committee over the last ten years along with the views of commentators and participants into a set of wide-ranging conclusions and recommendations about the strengths and weaknesses of British government. We identified five requirements for good government and, whilst we concluded that many of these conditions are being met, we identified scope for improvement.

To produce reports which are suitable for debate in the House, including Westminster Hall, or debating committees.

21. We have long campaigned to put the Civil Service on a statutory footing, even producing our own draft Civil Service Bill in 2004. This Session saw the welcome introduction of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, which contained clauses to place the Civil Service on a statutory footing along the lines of those contained in the draft Constitution Renewal Bill, which we scrutinised in the previous Session. While we gave these clauses a broad welcome, we also suggested areas in which they could be improved. Members of the Committee tabled relevant amendments to the Bill during its passage through the Commons, but the timetabling of business meant that there was no opportunity to debate the majority of these. We regard this as a very disappointing outcome, given our long-standing and constructive interest in this area.

2 Sixth Report, Justice denied? The Government's response to the Ombudsman's report on Equitable Life (HC 219) pg. 3 Back