Parliamentary Standards Bill

My Lords, I start by staying that I am seeking consensus, not defenestration. The argument of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, is absolutely correct. If we had been discussing the Bill as it left the other place, perhaps noble Lords would have more of an argument in favour of the sort of sunset clause that is favoured by the Liberal Democrats. However, the Bill is now very different and the majority of Members of this House have more confidence in it as it is in leaving this place. We are setting up in this Bill a new institution. It is important that it should be independent and transparent in its working. The Bill will provide for that. It is also important that the new institution should be authoritative. The Bill provides for a distinguished membership of IPSA and that is as it should be. This will be an important body doing an important task. As such, it is important that we can offer the members of IPSA and the commissioner some stability; otherwise, we will not get the quality of appointments that we need. The Bill provides in Schedules 1 and 2 for appointments for five years, but this clause effectively provides for appointments for two years. I remain deeply concerned, and I am sure that many of your Lordships are deeply concerned, about what the amendment would do to the quality of those appointments. The Government have accepted that there is a need for a mechanism to review the working of this—I hope—soon-to-be Act. I am grateful for the words of support from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay. This mechanism is important on two grounds. The first is the expedited passage of the legislation, although I believe that this expedited passage has not prevented good debate and detailed scrutiny of the Bill. Secondly, we are moving into uncharted waters and it is right that we should be able to take stock of how things are going. I promised at Second Reading that we would undertake detailed post-legislative scrutiny two years after Royal Assent—well within the five-year window that the Government have agreed to generally. That is what we will do. Having listened to further concerns, I brought forward in Committee the clause that is now in the Bill. Even that clause could be said to cast some uncertainty over the future of the commissioner and some of the functions of IPSA, but there is a crucial difference between the clause in the Bill and the effect of the noble Lords’ amendment. The effect of the noble Lords’ amendment would be that, regardless of how distinguished the membership of IPSA was, regardless of how well IPSA was doing its job, regardless of the level of public support that it achieved and regardless of the improvement in MPs’ standing that had arisen from its work, at the end of two years’ work the body would disappear. Noble Lords said in Committee on Thursday that, if IPSA and the commissioner were generally regarded as a success, it would be a straightforward matter to re-enact the legislation. That is precisely what the noble Baroness has said today. However, I think that it is a curious comment. We do not, on the whole, like passing legislation quickly. Your Lordships’ Constitution Committee has already published its recommendations for what should happen to legislation that is passed under expedited procedures. That is one reason why I am against a sunset clause, as advocated by the noble Lords on the Liberal Democrat Benches. The noble Lord, Lord Tyler, suggested that the Government could plan to re-enact the legislation well in advance of when it was needed, but that would of course cut into the time that IPSA would need to establish and prove itself. For all those reasons, the Government have proposed a review clause for these parts of the Bill. I refute personally the suggestion that a debate on a resolution is perfunctory. I hear the fears expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Goodlad—