Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

I beg to move amendment 48, in page 3, line 7, at end add— ‘(6) The Minister for the Civil Service shall delegate the appointment and approval of senior civil servants to senior posts in the Scottish Executive to the Head of the Home Civil Service, acting on advice of the Civil Service Commission.’. This is a simple and modest amendment that seeks to transfer the appointment of senior civil servants from London to Edinburgh. May I start by giving a bit of the context before I get into the meat of the amendment? This is not the preferred position of the Scottish National party. We would, quite obviously, prefer to see a properly devolved civil service accountable to Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament, much like those that we observe in normal legislatures around the world—in normal, self-respecting Parliaments. That is what we seek in terms of a civil service for Scotland, but it is not what we intend to seek when it comes to the appointments of senior civil servants. We would prefer that decision to be made by the First Minister of Scotland, and we would see him as responsible for making those key appointments. That is what happens in any self-respecting normal Parliament or legislature throughout the world. That is what we would preferably seek in order to try to ensure that we had the proper deal and arrangements for Scotland. Through amendment 48, I am putting forward the agreed position of the Labour party, the Conservative party and the Liberal party, as agreed with the Calman commission. I am prepared to set aside our preferred option—what we would ideally like to see—so that progress can be made. This is important. Progress can be made, and sometimes it is important for us to set aside our preferred and ideal options so that we can move forward to consensus. Sir Nicholas, you know me well enough to know that I always try to be as helpful as possible in such cases. This evening I am trying to be helpful, constructive and positive so that we can make progress on this serious key issue. I do not want the Front Benchers from all the political parties to get up and thank me for tabling this amendment. That is not necessary; I am not looking for it, and I would feel a little embarrassed if they did so, so perhaps they can restrain themselves and remain seated while I make the rest of my speech. However, I expect to secure from the Front Benchers of all the Calman parties their overwhelming and enthusiastic support. I expect to see them and their right hon. and hon. Friends going through the Lobby, overwhelmingly backing their position. I expect that, because it is their agreed position, as agreed with the Calman commission. There can be no excuse whatsoever for a failure to support my amendment this evening. I am looking forward not just to support but to enthusiastic support. The only thing that surprises me is that it has been left to me, a humble Scottish National party Member, to table an amendment on the agreed position of the Labour party, the Conservative party and the Liberal party. I thought that when we had an opportunity to make progress on some of the very important Calman recommendations, there would almost have been a race. I thought that the Labour and Conservative Whips Offices would have tried to outdo each other in a stampede to be the first to the Public Bill Office to table this amendment. But we have not heard a peep from them, and it is left to a humble Back Bencher from the Scottish National party to get to his feet and try to ensure that we get some progress on this matter—to try to advance the agreed position of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal parties. I find it a bit odd that it is left to me to do this task, but I look forward to their support. The Minister will know that there will be precious few opportunities to introduce some of the Calman recommendations in the next few months. Parliamentary time is tight and we have here an ideal opportunity to ensure that one of the key proposals of the Calman commission is introduced. For the life of me, I cannot understand why there could possibly be any reluctance to support this modest but important amendment, which is in line with Labour, Conservative and Liberal party policy. I tried to frame the amendment as closely as possible to what was suggested in recommendation 4.21 of the Calman report. My amendment reads: ““The Minister for the Civil Service shall delegate the appointment and approval of senior civil servants to senior posts in the Scottish Executive to the Head of the Home Civil Service, acting on advice of the Civil Service Commission””. The Calman commission’s recommendation 4.21 states: ““The responsibility for appointing, or approving appointments of, senior civil servants to senior posts in the Scottish Government should be delegated by the Prime Minister to the Head of the Home Civil Service, acting on the advice of the UK Civil Service Commissioners.”” They are almost identical. I do not want the Minister to say that I am trying to twist or misinterpret what was suggested about her position in relation to the Calman commission. That is not my intention: I have been as helpful as I can be by framing the amendment so that it is as close as possible to the commission’s original wording. The only difference that I can see is that this Government cannot get their head around the fact that Scotland has a Government, rather than an Executive.