§ 2. Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle)If he will publish a civil service Bill in draft. [40117]
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State (Mr. John Prescott)The Government are committed to the introduction of civil service legislation, and I anticipate working closely with the Select Committee on Public Administration in developing a consensus through all stages of reform. As I said when I appeared before the Committee on 18 October last year, this does not rule out any form of pre-legislative scrutiny.
§ Mr. PrenticeThat is a good answer, but it does not tell me anything that I did not already know. Is there any problem with introducing a civil service Bill, given that 873 all the parties are signed up to it? I am mystified over why there should he so much navel-gazing in regard to an issue on which there is consensus in the House.
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of StateAs the hon. Gentleman will recall, he asked the same question on an earlier occasion. [HON. MEMBERS: "Hon. Friend !"] Well, I will leave that to the judgment of the House.
I was trying to make it clear to the House that my hon. Friend—[HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, hear!"]—had asked a question and adjusted it in the process. He asked about pre-legislative scrutiny, which I think is a very good idea.
People want to have a debate about this issue. We have made it clear that we intend to make a radical change: to put provisions into law and a legislative framework, which the Opposition have called for in their recent report. We think that that is right and we will publish at the right time. The Cabinet Secretary will make a statement about the matter shortly. I believe that he is appearing before my hon. Friend's Committee tomorrow.
§ Mr. Tim Collins (Westmorland and Lonsdale)Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that a civil service Bill should include statutory provision for the ministerial code? Yesterday a judge in the Doncaster case said in passing sentence on two Labour councillors found guilty of corruption—I hope that the Deputy Prime Minister agrees with this—
Corruption by those elected by the public strikes at the root of democracy".Does he agree that following the Mittal affair, the Hinduja affair, the Ecclestone affair and the Vaz affair, the last person who should be judge and jury on the conduct of Ministers is the Prime Minister?
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of StateWe could expect a rant from the hon. Gentleman, but a Conservative councillor was before the court at the same time. Let me make it clear that the House condemns corruption wherever it takes place; I assume that that view is held on both sides of the Chamber. All parties have had problems, but the hon. Gentleman seeks only to exploit the situation, and throws doubt on the credibility of many councillors, Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat, who do an excellent job. We do not intend to put the ministerial code into a legislative framework.
§ Mr. SpeakerQuestion 3. [Interruption.]
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State (Mr. John Prescott)I was just thinking about Lady Porter.