Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Rejected
Paragraph: 29
Putting ACOBA on a statutory basis is not a prerequisite for the Rules to be...
Recommendation
Putting ACOBA on a statutory basis is not a prerequisite for the Rules to be legally enforced and should not delay it being put into operation. Nonetheless, to reflect the importance of its role and to clarify the status of it and the Rules, we recommend that ACOBA should be placed on a statutory basis as soon as possible.
Government Response Summary
The Government does not believe that ACOBA should be established in primary legislation, but will allow this reform package to take effect before any further consideration of statutory change, in the next Parliament.
Paragraph Reference:
29
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The Government does not believe that the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, and the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments should be established in primary legislation, nor their associated codes. The position between the Executive and Parliament in relation to these scrutiny bodies is carefully balanced. These Codes draw their authority by virtue of being produced at the discretion of the Government, which is balanced against the independence of each scrutiny body and their accountabilities to Parliament. The Government believes that the current constitutional position is the correct one, and that placing scrutiny bodies into primary legislation risks drawing the Courts into political matters that are the sole purview of the Government. The Government will allow this reform package to take effect before any further consideration of statutory change, in the next Parliament.