§ 6. Tony Wright (Cannock Chase)When he plans to bring forward a civil service Bill. [55933]
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State (Mr. John Prescott)In response to recommendations from both the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the Select Committee on Public Administration, which is chaired by my hon. Friend himself, the Government have committed themselves to civil service legislation, the timing of which will be announced in the normal way.
§ Tony WrightI thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. I suppose I am getting a little weary of asking this question, and I am sure that my right hon. Friend is getting weary of answering it, but we have to sort it out somehow. The outgoing Cabinet Secretary says that we need a Bill now, the incoming Cabinet Secretary says that he is not sure, the First Civil Service Commissioner says that we need a Bill urgently, and the Public Administration Committee says that it is going to produce 280 a Bill of its own. Can my right hon. Friend now say with some precision when he expects a consultation document to appear, and when he expects a draft Bill to follow it?
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of StateWe have made it absolutely clear that the Government's position is that we will produce a civil service Bill, which will become a civil service Act. We are in agreement with the conclusions of the Public Administration Committee on these matters. The recent comment by my hon. Friend, who is the Chairman of the Committee, that he felt that there was some doubt about that was quite wrong. We are strongly of this opinion, and we will produce that Bill. We welcome any consultation and any views that may be presented to us, and a consultation document will be produced shortly.
§ Mr. A. J. Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed)The sooner the better. Does the Deputy Prime Minister recognise that not only is this measure widely sought after—and there is some consensus around it—but it is a proper response to the welcome stream of apologies and expressions of regret that have been heard from, for example, Alastair Campbell, who said that the techniques of opposition had been used in government for too long, and from the right hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Mandelson), who referred to over-politicised press officers? Surely, drawing the boundary lines more clearly is what the Act would be for.
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of StateI agree with the right hon. Gentleman about drawing the boundary lines. We have made that clear, and I think that we are the first Government to make it clear that there should be a civil service Act. We will carry out that promise.
§ Brian White (Milton Keynes, North-East)Does my right hon. Friend recognise that the danger of introducing a civil service Bill at this time is that it will get bogged down in the current controversies? Will he ensure that the long-term future of the civil service, and the issues of "departmentalitis" and the division between policy and implementation, are addressed before a Bill is introduced?
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of StateI can assure my hon. Friend that that is exactly what we intend to do. We will consult before the Bill is introduced. That is our intention; let us make no mistake, the Government are committed to bringing in a new civil service Act—with all in agreement on the matter, we hope.
§ Mr. Roy Beggs (East Antrim)Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that all civil servants throughout the United Kingdom should have an opportunity to develop their expertise and competency? Will he seek to include in the civil service Bill provision for such training for professional civil servants as will enable them to gain expertise that will facilitate easy transfer between the Assemblies and Parliament, and thereby afford them greater opportunity for career development?
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of StateThe hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and the consultation document will cover many aspects of training, management and transferability between different sections.
§ Kevin Brennan (Cardiff, West)I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister's reaffirmation that it is the Government's intention to publish a draft civil service Bill in the near future. Is it still current thinking that it may contain a proposal for a cap on the number of special advisers?
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of StateThe Bill will address itself to that point—but my hon. Friend must await the consultation document.
§ Mr. Tim Collins (Westmorland and Lonsdale)As there is genuine cross-party consensus that we should have a civil service Bill, and furthermore that one of the principles that should be enshrined in it is protection of the independence of the civil service from any allegations of undue political influence, does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that such a Bill would be a good vehicle for introducing a genuinely independent non-partisan watchdog to check that donations to the governing party have not bought any favours? Does he further agree that such a vehicle is greatly to be preferred to the toothless poodle announced by his party yesterday?
§ The Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of StateThe name of Asil Nadir comes clearly to mind. Let me tell the hon. Gentleman that we are committed to making sure that there is transparency in all political donations. We committed ourselves to that in opposition, although the previous Conservative Administration would not support such a proposal. We continue to be committed to that aim, because we believe that all contributions should be open to proper examination, and we took another step towards it yesterday when we said how our party will deal with the matter. Can the hon. Gentleman give an assurance that his party will do the same?