§ Baroness Youngasked Her Majesty's Government:
When it expects to receive the Second Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (16th May 1996).
Viscount CranborneThe Second Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, under the Chairmanship of Lord Nolan, is being published today as70WA a Command Paper and copies of the report have been placed in the Printed Papers Office and the Library of the House. Her Majesty's Government would like to thank Lord Nolan and his colleagues for their continuing commitment and effort in discharging their important remit.
This second report covers Further and Higher Education Bodies, Grant-maintained Schools, Training and Enterprise Councils, Local Enterprise Companies and Registered Housing Associations. We welcome the fact that the committee found these to be "organisations in which very many voluntary Board members and paid staff work hard, maintain high standards and achieve good results". We should like to join Lord Nolan and his colleagues in putting on record Her Majesty's Government's appreciation and admiration of the dedicated unpaid service of so many thousands of volunteers in these Local Public Spending Bodies. This inquiry confirms the continuing vitality of voluntary service as one of the great strengths of the British system. This voluntary local commitment, channelled through a clear policy framework set by central government, provides a successful formula for delivering high-quality services to meet local needs.
Naturally, the committee has identified some areas where it believes that improvements can be made and we shall now give the report the close study it deserves before making a considered response, particularly on those recommendations which are addressed directly to the Government.