Parliamentary Standards Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord has taken me by surprise. He will remember that there was a discussion on the issue of the various commissioners in Committee and my noble friend Lord Higgins, and in particular the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, asked why it was necessary to have two commissioners. He made the point that it could give rise to some confusion and even in our debate there has been confusion. We are dealing with two commissioners. There is the existing Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Mr John Lyon, CB, who the noble Baroness explained would remain responsible to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. Then she went on to refer to the second one as the IPSA commissioner who would deal purely with financial breaches within the framework set out by IPSA. In the Bill, he is actually known as the Commissioner for Parliamentary Investigations, but we understood what she meant. That is what he is called. He is referred to throughout as the commissioner. We have become used to that. To come back to the question of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, do we really need two commissioners? Would there be a possibility of a merger between the two bodies or might there be some transfer of functions? That leads us to the Bill. I was expecting there to be an amendment about the right of appeal, but it was not moved so this is all very difficult. We are dealing with Clause 9 on further functions. We come to the question of the possible transfer of functions between the two commissioners. The purpose of tabling this amendment was not necessarily to remove subsection (6) but to give the noble Baroness an opportunity to be a little more explicit about what the Government intend. It is not at all clear from this clause what functions might be transferred to the new commissioner; the Commissioner for Parliamentary Investigations. Why is the provision in the Bill? What functions might be referred to the new commissioner? Who is expected to take the initiative in proposing such a transfer of functions? When do the Government expect such a process to take place? One difficulty that has already been referred to this afternoon is that the existing parliamentary commissioner is not a creature of statute. His existence depends entirely on resolutions in the other place, whereas the new commissioner for investigations will owe his existence entirely to this Bill; he will be a creature of statute. Are the Government satisfied that Clause 9 as drafted will deal with this considerable difference in the origins of the two bodies? I am sure that I am not alone in looking for some clarification of what this clause is intended to bring about, and I hope that the noble Baroness will be able to give us some enlightenment. I beg to move.