As it happens, Tory MP David Gauke proposed something very similar during the Public Bill Committee proceedings of the Statistics and Registration Service Bill but it was voted down by the Government earlier. However, just yesterday, he raised the possibility of greater Parliamentary involvement in the appointment of the members of the Statistics Board. The answer he received from Angela Eagle, the Exchequer Secretary, was:
‘On the third issue, the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire asked about board appointments and whether there might be a role for Parliament. Clearly, Parliament will not have an added role and not in respect of the initial boardDoes this suggest a lack of communication within the Government?
appointments. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the national statistician is a Crown
appointment and board appointments will be made by appropriate Ministers—ahead, I believe, of the setting up and going live of the new board in April 2008. A
proper appointments process has to be in place for that.’
(See column 709 of Official Report for 2 July).
11 comments:
Yes.
Any idea why Angela EAgle is now the Exchequer Sec at teh Treasury ( a new post?) and the Paymaster General is now Tessa Jowell? V odd.
What is the story about giving up the right to recall and dissolve parliament ? Anyone know what the practical implications are ?
I think that Gordy is looking tired and unwell. Has he got a flu or is there something we ought to know about?
Wouldn't have thought the Government was in the middle of a terrorist bombing campaign now targeting Scotland by looking at this site, would you?
Was this a submitted question? Not today but a week or eight ago? Rather than indicating a lack of communication it seems to me that it indicates that Brown is keeping plans relatively contained. Looking at the ministers around him in the BBC picture there were clearly some people who hadn't been briefed. Like Miliband.
Brown has proposed taking the chair off the PM/Crown and to parliament but I guess the other posts may still be appointed by ministers. Not sure about that.
I like it if Brown is telling (or asking) parliament first. There was not much to complain about today was there? Apart from Brown surging even more.
Independent boards are a wonderful way for the government to dodge responsibility, and the area of British life which the elected government manages has shrunk even further. Not that that's a bad thing at the moment, given how incompetent and deceitful this government is in its manipulation of statistics, but I hope that the next decent government, of whatever party, will start accepting responsbility for government policy again.
Anna Eagle said, "My experience of ministerial office is that statistics are the last thing that we think about because we are too buried in other matters to interfere directly in the way in which a series of statistics are chosen, or when they are compiled and released...... "
In line with the mantra "we shall not promote one type of family structure as opposed to another" [announced by her sister Maria Eagle], what the government did was to abolish marital status from government forms. All the current research now compares lone parent households with 'couple' households, regardless of whether the couple is married. Earlier research has shown that outcomes for the children of unmarried couples is closer to those of lone parents than to those of married couples. Anna Eagle's claim "we are too buried in other matters to interfere directly" is a specious one. The Bill should contain a provision for publishing a Social Capital Index as it does for the RPI.
Brown pretends to hand over power to other bodies, and then controls their decisions from behind the scenes.
eg bank of england monetary policy committee. He controls who's on it. Interest rates were possibly kept down for his coronation.
There is no such thing as independence of thought with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister. Everyone knows the Clunking Fist holds the threads.
NO! This just shows that Clunking Fist Gordon is calling the shots and running HIS government HIS way.
The whole 'greater role for Parliament' is a smokescreen. As is the illusion that we will have cabinet Government.
He has his hands on the levers now. It is HIS country and we are HIS property.
God have mercy upon our souls!
His proposals - in which he suggested a "bill of rights" could eventually be published after public consultation.
Who is going to decide the board appointments ?
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