Greater London Authority Bill

We support these amendments particularly enthusiastically, because the appointment of senior staff is one of the very few areas where the Assembly has any influence at all, and the Government now propose to take that power away. I endorse what the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, said: so far the Government have failed to offer any satisfactory justification for weakening the Assembly’s scrutiny powers. The existing position, as she said, seems to be working very well and without complaint. In another place the Minister was unable to offer a single example of the current powers being abused in any way. There is not a single incidence mentioned when the process has had unwelcome consequences, and the Government could not reveal any representation made by any professional body that this was an area of the law that needed review. Perhaps, now that three and a half months have elapsed since that debate first took place, the Minister will be able to give us some examples today. The current position gave the Assembly a vital role in staff appointments. It was able to determine the overall complement, and to take an active role in various key appointments. Obviously it was not involved in all appointments, as has been suggested in the past, but the changes proposed in the Bill do not do the Assembly any favours at all, and it is fatuous to argue that they do. The real benefit of the existing position was that the staffing discussions took place, as the noble Baroness has said, transparently, on a cross-party basis and not hidden from the public gaze. Full reports made to the Assembly are in the public domain. It seems that now the Mayor will be able to make these same decisions in private without scrutiny. This is a retrograde step, and we therefore support the amendments put forward by the noble Baroness.