Greater London Authority Bill

Amendment No. 11 requires the Mayor to include a copy of the candidate’s application in the notification that it gives the Assembly under Schedule 1(3), as we have just heard. The paragraph currently requires the Mayor to provide the Assembly with only the candidate's name and address, the office to which the Mayor proposes to appoint the candidate and the Mayor's reasons for wanting to make the appointment. I understand the concern of the noble Baroness and the commendable intention behind the amendment to provide the Assembly with sufficient information about the candidate in order fully to scrutinise the proposed appointment effectively. However, on balance, we resist the amendment. I shall explain why for practical purposes. It is of course vital that the Assembly has sufficient information about the office in question and the candidate whom the Mayor proposes to appoint in order fully to scrutinise the role, but we do not agree that requiring the Mayor to provide the Assembly with a copy of the candidate’s application is the best way to achieve that objective. An application form may include personal information that the candidate may not want to be disclosed - especially given what we hope will be the extremely public nature of these confirmation hearings. Paragraph 6(4) enables the Assembly to request that the candidate produces any document in his or her possession. It should be for the candidate to decide whether to provide the Assembly with their application, if the Assembly requests it. Given that they want to be appointed to the post in question, I would expect any candidate to be keen to comply as far as possible with any request made by the Assembly for information. Equally, the Assembly should be able to draw its own conclusions, should the candidate refuse such a request for information. I do not want to comment on the individual example given, but I remind the Committee that we are talking about a public hearing. From my point of view, this is a key representational test for any candidate. The information that they choose to share and the information that the Assembly chooses to request will form part of the assessment that the Assembly will want to make of the candidate. Withholding that information will no doubt be taken into account. I fully understand the concerns of the noble Baroness, but I hope that, having made those points, she will consider withdrawing the amendment.