UK Parliament / Open data

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

Debate on bills and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Tuesday, 3 November 2009, in the House of Commons.
Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill. Programme motion (No. 2) on proceedings in Committee. Agreed to on division (293 votes to 230). Committee stage first day. Clause 1, discussed with new clause 33, debated and agreed to. Clauses 2 to 7, and 9 to 20 agreed to, with clauses 15 and 18 agreed to as amended. Clause 8, discussed with new clause 15, agreed to as amended. New clauses 9 to 11 agreed to. New clause 33 negatived on division (187 votes to 295). Schedules 1 and 2 agreed to. New schedule 1 agreed to. [Relevant documents: Report of the Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, Session 2007-08, on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, HC 551-I and–II, and the Government response, Cm 7690. Tenth Report from the Public Administration Select Committee, Session 2007-08, on Constitutional Renewal: Draft Bill and White Paper, HC 499, and the Government response, Cm 7688. The letter from the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights to the Secretary of State for Justice dated 26 October 2009.]

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

498 c752-828 

Session

2008-09

Department

Ministry of Justice

Legislative stage

Committee stage

Procedure

Programme motions
New clauses

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill. Explanatory Notes Bill 142-EN also published.
Monday, 20 July 2009
Bills
House of Commons
Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill. Government response to the Public Administration Select Committee's tenth report of Session 2007-08 (HC 499).
Monday, 20 July 2009
Command papers
House of Commons
Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill. Government response to the Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill first report of session 2007-08 (HC 551 2007-08).
Monday, 20 July 2009
Command papers
House of Lords
House of Commons
Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill. Public Administration Select Committee tenth report with proceedings, evidence (HC 499-i-ii not printed separately) and appendices.
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons

Show all related items (5)

Proceeding contributions

Jack Straw | 498 c764 (Link to this contribution) The hon. and learned Gentleman knows very well that the business of the House is in the hands of the...
Dominic Grieve | 498 c764 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Secretary of State can see how much things have changed. On Second Reading, he qu...

Show all contributions (191)
Jack Straw | 498 c764 (Link to this contribution) I see that there is approbation for that. A knife is proposed to fall today after debate on the prop...
Speaker | 498 c764 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the Aye Lobby.
David Howarth | 498 c769-70 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 12, page 1, line 13, leave out paragraph (c). Clause 1 simply relates to th...
Jack Straw | 498 c764 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but the debate is about to end. I say again that no Bill has been the subject of great...
Oliver Heald | 498 c770 (Link to this contribution) I am concerned about the exclusion of GCHQ from the definition of what is a civil servant for the pu...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 498 c770 (Link to this contribution) We have tabled new clause 33, which has been grouped with the amendment.
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 498 c770 (Link to this contribution) Order. Is the right hon. Gentleman leaping ahead? At the moment, we are on amendment 12, and new cla...
Oliver Heald | 498 c771 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. Does he share my concern that this may be anothe...
Tony Wright | 498 c770-1 (Link to this contribution) I want briefly to add my questions to those that have been asked. I have not heard an explanation as...
Martin Horwood | 498 c771-2 (Link to this contribution) I was recently privileged publicly to welcome Her Majesty the Queen to GCHQ, along with the mayor of...
Tony Wright | 498 c771 (Link to this contribution) I was not giving way to the hon. Gentleman; in fact, I had concluded my remarks. However, I think th...
Martin Horwood | 498 c772 (Link to this contribution) I was about to conclude, but I happily give way.
David Winnick | 498 c772 (Link to this contribution) On 25 January 1984, the House was notified by the then Foreign Secretary that the right of GCHQ empl...
Martin Horwood | 498 c772 (Link to this contribution) I think that that is broadly what I said. The Conservative Government's actions at that time damaged...
Mike Penning | 498 c772 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister clarify whether GCHQ is now being considered in the same way as the other intellige...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c772-3 (Link to this contribution) I thank hon. Members for their comments. I shall first set out the scope of the amendment and then a...
Oliver Heald | 498 c780 (Link to this contribution) Many of the bodies that the hon. Gentleman mentions, over which questions as to whether they are par...
David Howarth | 498 c780 (Link to this contribution) That is an important aspect of the question. Are civil servants protected from improper pressure, fo...
David Howarth | 498 c778-9 (Link to this contribution) A central issue in this Bill is the question: to whom does it apply? Who counts as a civil servant? ...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 498 c781-2 (Link to this contribution) I look forward with interest to the Minister's response to that question—[Interruption.] She is look...
Alan Whitehead | 498 c782-3 (Link to this contribution) I want to address the narrow point about the precise definition of a civil servant in clause 1(1). A...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 498 c780-1 (Link to this contribution) I apologise, Sir Alan, for being a little previous in attempting to intervene during the last groupi...
Oliver Heald | 498 c781 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend will have seen that part 1 of the Bill sets up, as a body corporate, the Civil ...
Mike Penning | 498 c786-7 (Link to this contribution) I can say that the Minister of State, Cabinet Office, the right hon. Member for Basildon (Angela E. ...
Lord Tyrie | 498 c783-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that ruling, because some of my remarks will range more widely than those that we ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 498 c783 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next speaker, may I remind the Committee of the decision taken by the Chair...
Oliver Heald | 498 c787-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to follow the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie) in saying how w...
Mike Penning | 498 c788 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend's point about the courts is an important one. As I understand it—I am not a learned g...
Oliver Heald | 498 c788-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes the point exactly—what are the courts to make of it? That is worrying if we loo...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c789-90 (Link to this contribution) I thank hon. Members for their thoughtful contributions and I hope to deal with the points that they...
Lord Tyrie | 498 c790 (Link to this contribution) When the Minister says that non-civil servants will not be covered, does she understand that there i...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c790 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is completely wrong. As I have made clear, civil servants who are not excluded wi...
Oliver Heald | 498 c790 (Link to this contribution) The Minister may have just answered the question. A list was drawn up in 2004. Is she saying that al...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 498 c791 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister not find it slightly embarrassing that the Cabinet Office, where she is Minister r...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c790-1 (Link to this contribution) Everyone who is a civil servant is obviously included unless he or she is specifically excluded. Eve...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c774 (Link to this contribution) I give way first to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald).
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c773-4 (Link to this contribution) The Government have given assurances that they will have an independent complaints mechanism and tha...
David Howarth | 498 c773 (Link to this contribution) But is not the point that there is no statutory basis for those promises, whereas there is for staff...
Gordon Prentice | 498 c774 (Link to this contribution) Under what circumstances would appointments at GCHQ not be made on merit?
Mike Penning | 498 c774 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) is exactly right. Part 1 sets out...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c774 (Link to this contribution) Before I respond, I believe that the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning) wanted to interv...
Oliver Heald | 498 c774 (Link to this contribution) Does not the right hon. Lady understand that the whole purpose of part 1 of the Bill is to put on a ...
Mike Penning | 498 c775 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman give us a clue as to why the Minister would not indicate what the exceptional...
David Howarth | 498 c775 (Link to this contribution) I do not know, and that point is by far the strongest case for the amendment that has been establish...
David Howarth | 498 c775 (Link to this contribution) I shall attempt to answer the question, and then my right hon. Friend might provide a better answer....
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c774 (Link to this contribution) I would expect only in very rare and exceptional circumstances, because appointments are made on mer...
David Howarth | 498 c774-5 (Link to this contribution) I was hoping that the Minister would provide an answer to the question that we have all been asking,...
David Howarth | 498 c775 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that that is the case, so why the Government desire to have this loophole is entirely myst...
Lord Beith | 498 c775 (Link to this contribution) I was going to put it to my hon. Friend that I was as baffled by the Minister's reply as he was. I a...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 498 c778 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
David Howarth | 498 c778 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 10, in clause 1, page 2, line 21, at end add—
Pete Wishart | 498 c800-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend asks where the Labour Members are. Looking at the deserted Labour Back Benches, I am ...
Stewart Hosie | 498 c800 (Link to this contribution) No Labour Members are even here. Where are they? Our party has a better turn-out.
Pete Wishart | 498 c800 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Lady listens to every word that I say, and I am saying that I am prepared to se...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c800 (Link to this contribution) I am puzzled as to why the hon. Gentleman is supporting the Calman commission this evening, instead ...
Lord Watson of Wyre Forest | 498 c802 (Link to this contribution) Hey, I am on the Back Benches. It might be my party policy but I can say what I want now. The hon. M...
Lord Watson of Wyre Forest | 498 c802 (Link to this contribution) I have the highest regard for the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart). His hum...
David Howarth | 498 c801-2 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether I can speak on behalf of the old Liberal party, of which I used to be a member...
Pete Wishart | 498 c801 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has obviously never looked at the amendment. It seeks to achieve the transfer of the a...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c801 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way again, as I have a genuine question. He is right to point ...
Tony Wright | 498 c796 (Link to this contribution) It is really very difficult to keep a straight face, Sir Nicholas. What is really disappointing is t...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c795-6 (Link to this contribution) Cases; my apologies. It may,""in exceptional cases, prepare a report at any other time about any mat...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c797-8 (Link to this contribution) It is embarrassing to see so much cynicism in just one hon. Member. The report is to be made to Parl...
Pete Wishart | 498 c798-9 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 48, in page 3, line 7, at end add— ‘(6) The Minister for the Civil Service ...
Tony Wright | 498 c796 (Link to this contribution) In the spirit of not only co-operation and not being difficult, but total mystery, I beg to ask leav...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c796 (Link to this contribution) I shall be brief. My hon. Friend talks of our resisting his amendment, but all I am saying to him is...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c797 (Link to this contribution) Schedule 1 contains provisions relating to the membership of the new Civil Service Commission—the ho...
David Howarth | 498 c797 (Link to this contribution) I wish to raise two points and ask two questions about the schedule. Both points relate to the indep...
Mike Penning | 498 c794 (Link to this contribution) I also rise to support the amendment tabled by the hon. Gentleman. When the Minister rises to say wh...
Mike Penning | 498 c795 (Link to this contribution) The Justice Minister is indicating from a sedentary position that Members of this House should not s...
David Howarth | 498 c795 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend, who is absolutely right: the phrase is "exceptional cases", which raises a f...
David Heath | 498 c794-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way; I just want us to proceed with this debate in good o...
David Howarth | 498 c794 (Link to this contribution) I was going to raise exactly the same point, and would simply add this. Who decides whether a case i...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c795 (Link to this contribution) I think I can help hon. Members on this point—again. Let us see whether they will accept these assur...
David Howarth | 498 c795 (Link to this contribution) Yes, that is a very good point. I apologise, Sir Nicholas—I was attempting to make a speech even sh...
Mike Penning | 498 c795 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not going to give way. I absolutely agree with what the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Ho...
Lord Wills | 498 c795 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c794 (Link to this contribution) I rise very briefly simply to support what the hon. Gentleman has just said. I agree with him.
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c791 (Link to this contribution) Mr. Winterton—[Hon. Members: "Sir Nicholas."] I am sorry; Sir Nicholas. I should have thought that t...
Lord Tyrie | 498 c792 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the courts will use Pepper v. Hart? They will look at what has be...
David Howarth | 498 c791-2 (Link to this contribution) This has been a very frustrating debate. Whenever the Minister has been asked whether a certain body...
Mike Penning | 498 c792 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it, a consultant working in a Department has to sign the civil service code, but the...
David Howarth | 498 c792 (Link to this contribution) I am glad the hon. Gentleman raised that point, because that appeared to be the import of what the M...
Tony Wright | 498 c792 (Link to this contribution) I have some sympathy with what has been said, but as someone who has sat through countless discussio...
David Howarth | 498 c792 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good question. Judging by the Minister's account, it depends on whether the person wa...
Tony Wright | 498 c793-4 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 55, page 33, line 22, leave out ', in exceptional cases,'. Following the to...
David Howarth | 498 c793 (Link to this contribution) If the distinguished Select Committee Chairman is saying that the only way to deal with this is to l...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c803 (Link to this contribution) I have a genuine question about practicality. If the amendment were agreed to, would it pass power f...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c802-3 (Link to this contribution) First, I welcome the conversion of the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) to ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c804 (Link to this contribution) I have a lot of sympathy for what the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) said...
David Heath | 498 c807-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to ask the Minister a simple question that relates to an obvious omission from this part of t...
Lord Watson of Wyre Forest | 498 c804 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is turning into a real London luvvie, defending this amendment, which would hand ...
Pete Wishart | 498 c804 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that useful intervention. The prospect of my becoming a London luvvie...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c803 (Link to this contribution) There are two points. First, the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs. Laing) is quite right: there wo...
Pete Wishart | 498 c803-4 (Link to this contribution) I have very much enjoyed this particularly illuminating debate. So that we understand the discussion...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c803 (Link to this contribution) I shall wait for inspiration—but there does not seem to be any great transfer of power in the amendm...
David Howarth | 498 c803 (Link to this contribution) I should remind the Minister that we are in Committee, so we are allowed speak again in the same deb...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c808 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) has got his priorities a bit mixed up. It is touc...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c808 (Link to this contribution) Of course not; that is already protected. The Liberal Democrats should not be quite so touchy; my cr...
David Howarth | 498 c808 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady saying that any Government of whom she might be a member would think it appropriate...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c809 (Link to this contribution) Because they do not have a civil servant contract. They have not signed the terms and conditions of ...
David Heath | 498 c809-10 (Link to this contribution) I have now heard two speakers, from the Conservative Front Bench and from the Government Front Bench...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c810 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has completely misrepresented what I said. He is so touchy that the slightest bit...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c809 (Link to this contribution) I listened with interest to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) talking about why his...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c809 (Link to this contribution) I will do so only if the hon. Gentleman promises to make a sensible point.
David Howarth | 498 c809 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether the Minister's point was sensible. She said that independent scientific advise...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c810 (Link to this contribution) If I may finish the point, it might help the hon. Gentleman to listen before jumping in. The Joint ...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c810 (Link to this contribution) It is with some regret that I rise again to speak on this issue, but the hon. Gentleman misunderstan...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c811 (Link to this contribution) Ministers' respecting that impartiality is implicit in the Bill. If Ministers are putting forward a ...
David Howarth | 498 c811 (Link to this contribution) The Minister seems to be saying that this is now a principles-based Bill, as opposed to a rules-base...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c811 (Link to this contribution) I sometimes wonder whether the hon. Gentleman is serious about the points that he puts forward. The ...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c811 (Link to this contribution) I give way in exasperation to the right hon. Gentleman.
Lord Maude of Horsham | 498 c811 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for confirming that the Bill intends to make no change to the current ...
David Howarth | 498 c811 (Link to this contribution) Clause 5 is about the civil service code, to which the Minister has just referred. She also claimed ...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c811 (Link to this contribution) It does indeed; that is one aspect of it. It is also entrenched in the ministerial code, which ensur...
David Howarth | 498 c812 (Link to this contribution) I must therefore conclude that the ministerial code will not be statutory and will not have the same...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c811 (Link to this contribution) No, I did not say that the ministerial code was in the Bill. I said that the ministerial code enshri...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c812 (Link to this contribution) Any Minister who tried not to adhere to the principles of the ministerial code would find that they ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c812 (Link to this contribution) I would like to ask the Minister why it is deemed necessary to specify, in clause 5(2), that""the Mi...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c812 (Link to this contribution) They might not necessarily be different, but they may be different if, after consultation with the d...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 498 c812-3 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 50, page 4, line 29, at end insert ‘with a fiduciary responsibility to spend...
Gordon Prentice | 498 c813 (Link to this contribution) Is that not already covered by the designation of permanent secretaries as accounting officers for t...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 498 c815 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the comments of the Minister and others. We think that this duty is an important ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 498 c816 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 79, page 4, line 33, leave out 'special' and insert 'Ministerial'.
Tony Wright | 498 c814-5 (Link to this contribution) This Bill has been through so many previous incarnations that it is sometimes difficult to keep up w...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 498 c813-4 (Link to this contribution) There is no harm in making that designation more explicit, and giving it some teeth by entrenching i...
David Howarth | 498 c814 (Link to this contribution) I sympathise very much with the intention behind the amendment. I do not think that it would do any ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 498 c817 (Link to this contribution) I say at the outset that I do not intend to press my amendments to a vote. One good reason is that, ...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 498 c816-7 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c819-20 (Link to this contribution) It is pleasure to agree with almost everything that the hon. Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c820 (Link to this contribution) Before the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) makes his speech—and I shall give way to him in...
David Howarth | 498 c820 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for giving way. In fact, I was simply going to ask her whether she would suppo...
Barry Sheerman | 498 c818 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend and I share an interest in that history. When did we have something that he would des...
Kelvin Hopkins | 498 c818-9 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to speak for too long, although I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. This issu...
Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 498 c819 (Link to this contribution) May I just advise the Committee that it would seem sensible to take clause 15 stand part with this g...
Tony Wright | 498 c820 (Link to this contribution) I shall be extremely brief. It is unfortunate—in fact, that is hardly the word—that we have reached ...
Baroness Laing of Elderslie | 498 c820 (Link to this contribution) I understand what the hon. Gentleman is saying. I do not think that it is necessary for the matter t...
David Howarth | 498 c820 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Dr. Wright) and I think that the way to tes...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c820-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to hon. Members for keeping their comments short so that I have time to respond. First...
David Heath | 498 c761 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. and learned Gentleman will also be aware that there is a very high expectation of a s...
Oliver Heald | 498 c763 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree, and the hon. Gentleman is another veteran of these debates. My point is that the...
Jack Straw | 498 c763-4 (Link to this contribution) With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, may I say that I understand the concerns of the House? I coul...
Oliver Heald | 498 c762-3 (Link to this contribution) Well, there were arguments about the quality of the Bills, but the Government accepted the principle...
David Heath | 498 c763 (Link to this contribution) The four days may be sufficient—I do not think that they will be, but they may—but the point is that...
Dominic Grieve | 498 c758 (Link to this contribution) Although the hon. Gentleman and I may differ on whether the reforms that he seeks to the role of the...
David Heath | 498 c758 (Link to this contribution) Of course it should. Let me conclude by saying that if one wanted the clearest possible advertisemen...
Keith Vaz | 498 c758-9 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) and the hon. Member for Somer...
Dominic Grieve | 498 c759 (Link to this contribution) I should make the position clear. I believe I said that the mountain moved and brought forth the mou...
Keith Vaz | 498 c759 (Link to this contribution) I say to the hon. and learned Gentleman that even if this were the shortest Bill in the world, he wo...
Viscount Hailsham | 498 c759-60 (Link to this contribution) May I associate myself with what has been said by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsf...
Jack Straw | 498 c761 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman explain something to me? I understand his argument about t...
Viscount Hailsham | 498 c761 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is being less attentive than he normally is. The truth is that one has to det...
Viscount Hailsham | 498 c761 (Link to this contribution) My hon. and learned Friend is quite right. The knives are even more mischievous when we have two imp...
David Heath | 498 c757-8 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely the point, and I am glad that the right hon. and learned Gentleman makes it. He de...
David Heath | 498 c756-7 (Link to this contribution) I must say that I am extremely disappointed in the position that the Lord Chancellor has chosen to t...
Dominic Grieve | 498 c755-6 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely. This Government motion offers us an opportunity to revisit something we did at th...
Oliver Heald | 498 c755 (Link to this contribution) As the amendment paper shows, amendments have been tabled by Members who do not sit on the Front Ben...
Dominic Grieve | 498 c755 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my right hon. and learned Friend, and the last thing I would wish to do is dep...
Viscount Hailsham | 498 c755 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. and learned Friend also make the point that it is profoundly undemocratic for important...
Dominic Grieve | 498 c755 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point. I, for one, am always happy to have informal disc...
Keith Vaz | 498 c755 (Link to this contribution) Is not one way of dealing with this the commencement of proper discussions between the Government an...
Dominic Grieve | 498 c754-5 (Link to this contribution) I entirely accept the Secretary of State's comment that the House did not divide on the programme mo...
Lembit Opik | 498 c753-4 (Link to this contribution) I have no doubt that there has been extensive consultation up to this point, but, having engaged in ...
Jack Straw | 498 c753 (Link to this contribution) There has been no formal discussion of the matter, although informal representations have been made....
Speaker | 498 c754 (Link to this contribution) I must inform the House that Mr. Speaker has not selected the amendment in the name of the right hon...
Jack Straw | 498 c754 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has raised an important point. I agree that this Bill in particular should be sub...
Keith Vaz | 498 c753 (Link to this contribution) Since Second Reading, have there been any further discussions with the Opposition about their propos...
Jack Straw | 498 c752-3 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That the Order of 20 October 2009 (Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill (Program...
Mike Penning | 498 c790 (Link to this contribution) What I was asking was whether that body fell within the scope of the Bill. I was not asking about it...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c815 (Link to this contribution) I have listened carefully to hon. Members' comments, and it might help if I point out the following....
Oliver Heald | 498 c762 (Link to this contribution) When we considered the devolution Bills at the start of the Government's time in office—
Humfrey Malins | 498 c761-2 (Link to this contribution) I rise briefly to support my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve), the h...
Dominic Grieve | 498 c761 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. and learned Friend also agree that the merit of not having knives is that, as the...
Viscount Hailsham | 498 c757 (Link to this contribution) Irrespective of whether or not the Bill is modest in itself, does the hon. Gentleman agree that it i...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 498 c774 (Link to this contribution) The assurance that I can give hon. Members is that the same right of access to complaints procedures...
David Howarth | 498 c797 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for that assurance, although I am not sure that it is enough to ensure the inde...
Kelvin Hopkins | 498 c818 (Link to this contribution) Well, it concerned me at the time. I have been a member of the Public Administration Committee for s...
Peter Bottomley | 498 c818 (Link to this contribution) That was 12 years ago. At the time, what was the proper way for people to raise that issue and say t...
David Heath | 498 c810 (Link to this contribution) I am indeed in a temper: a good temper, as I always am. When the Official Report is studied, it will...
Viscount Hailsham | 498 c761 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I have no doubt that when we come to the third and fourth days, whenever they might be, we w...

Subjects

Conditions of employment
Codes of practice
Courts
Conduct
Annual reports
Civil servants
Civil service
Diplomatic service
GCHQ
Public appointments
Staff
Ministers
Peers
Nationality
Special advisers
Migrant workers
Scotland
Tribunals
Treaties
Reform
Senior civil servants
Civil Service Commission

Legislation

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill 2008-09 to 2009-10

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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