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Lord Lester of Herne Hill moved Amendment No. 8:
"NEW NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS
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(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for nationality requirement which must be satisfied by a person employed or holding office in a civil capacity under the Crown.
(2) The regulations may also impose requirements as to nationality which must be satisfied by persons of a description specified in the regulations who are related to, or living with, such a person.
(3) The regulations may include provision—
(a) exempting persons of a description specified in the rules (and persons related to, or living with, them) who were first employed, or first held office, in the capacity in question before a specified date; and
(b) allowing any Minister or other officer of the Crown to grant exemptions in cases in which the Minister or officer considers it appropriate.
(4) The reference in section 75(5)(b) of the Race Relations Act 1976 (c. 74) (rules relating to nationality etc. of persons employed in service of Crown) to the implementation of rules includes the grant of (or refusal to grant) exemptions under subsection (3)(b).
(5) The regulations—
(a) shall be made by statutory instrument; and
(b) are subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament."
The noble Lord said: This amendment addressed concerns raised by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee that the power to impose new nationality requirements for the Civil Service in Clause 18 was not subject to parliamentary procedure. The amendment provides therefore that any new rules imposing nationality requirements must be made by statutory instrument by a Minister and subject to the negative resolution procedure. I commend the amendment to the Committee and I beg to move.
Lord Cope of Berkeley: The noble Lord has acted wisely and in accordance with the general habit of the House, as it were, to agree with the delegated powers and deregulation committee. I support him in doing so.
Lord Bassam of Brighton: I want to make it clear that the Government oppose this amendment. The new clause does not allow delegation of the rule-making power by the Secretary of State. Each post would need to be considered on its merits within the terms of Article 39(4) of the EC treaty. As a result of that, it would not be open to Ministers to delegate the power to designate certain posts as reserved or not reserved to officials responsible for the day-to-day running of their organisations, such as the permanent head of department, agency chief executives, or the head of the security and intelligence services, who may be better placed to determine if a post should be reserved.
We are also concerned that under proposed new Clause 18(1) restrictions may be imposed only by means of statutory instrument. This may not allow sufficient flexibility to impose or relax the reservation of posts in order to meet emergency situations. Proposed new Clause 18(4) provides that Section 75(5)(b) of the Race Relations Act 1976 applies to the granting or refusal to grant exemptions under the rules. This ensures that the discretion of the Minister of the Crown or personal body on whom the power has
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been conferred to grant or refuse exemptions falls outside the remit of the Act. However, there is no such provision in relation to Northern Ireland under the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, which in our view may have undesirable consequences.
I ought to point out that there are one or two technical problems with the new clause. While subsection (1) refers to regulations, subsection (3)(a) refers to rules. Also subsection (3)(b) allows officers of the Crown as well as Ministers to grant exemptions, notwithstanding that subsection (1) allows only Ministers to impose nationality restrictions. There are technical deficiencies here as well as there being issues of policy with which we cannot agree.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill: I am extremely grateful for the Minister's learned criticism of my amendment as it stands. As he probably knows, its origin is not only with me but with the Public Administration Committee, and Mr Andrew Dismore MP has a Bill on
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this matter before the other place which I believe is being debated this month. What I therefore think would be sensible is for me to consider the technical points that have been raised and to come back later with what I hope will be an amendment which cannot be criticised in that powerful way. For now, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
House resumed; Bill reported with an amendment.
Children and Adoption Bill [HL]
The Bill was returned from the Commons agreed to with a privilege amendment; the amendment was considered and agreed to.
House adjourned at fifteen minutes before eleven o'clock.
Written Statements
Wednesday 21 June 2006
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Criminal Justice: Racial Equality
The Attorney-General (Lord Goldsmith): Today the Government are announcing the publication of the Race for Justice taskforce report. The taskforce was set up by me in response to one of the specific recommendations made in a report of the Gus John Partnership in 2003, entitled Race for Justice. That report recommended establishing a holistic approach across the criminal justice system to the handling of racist and religious crimes. The Race for Justice taskforce report sets out a range of recommendations which aim to improve the handling, investigation and prosecution of racist and religious crime.
The Office for Criminal Justice Reform has produced a cross-agency action plan and will establish a delivery board to take forward the recommendations of the Race for Justice taskforce report. We believe that, through a more joined-up approach to handling these crimes, we can increase the trust and confidence of people from black and minority ethnic communities in the criminal justice system.
Both the Race for Justice taskforce report and the original report by Professor Gus John have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Financial Services Authority
Lord McKenzie of Luton: My honourable friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Ed Balls) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The National Audit Office has been invited to carry out a review of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the Financial Services Authority has used its resources when discharging its statutory functions. This review will be the first to be carried out under Section 12 of the Financial Services and Markets Act—the Act that established the FSA five years ago. The NAO will start work in July and the Treasury plans to lay a report before Parliament in the first half of next year.
The topics to be covered by the review—which have been arrived at following consultation with key stakeholders of the FSA—will address five broad areas of the authority's work:
internal performance management;
external joint working within the UK;
A copy of the terms of reference, given to the NAO, has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
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Food Standards Agency: Annual Report
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): My right honourable friend the Minister of State (Caroline Flint) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Food Standards Agency's annual report 2005–06 was laid before Parliament today. Copies have been placed in the Library.
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