Speeches by Lamb.

“Who would be best to speak to about these arrangements?”

“I appreciate that these things happen for a range of different reasons, but the Government clearly got some criticism early on around some of these issues. Where action appears not to be happening promptly, that will always raise questions as to what the reasons behind that are, and the public may not always make a cha…”

“That would be great. One interesting thing is that small organisations such as Transparency International UK have taken this task on themselves, and are managing to build an accessible source of information for the general public, in a way that the Government have not managed to do. Is there a reason why those organisa…”

“Previously, there were plans to create a transparency portal. We understand that those were dropped due to a lack of funding. Can we get an idea of how much that was estimated to cost?”

“If it is not currently happening, could we have more detail as to what exactly is holding it up and when it might be concluded? Moving on, in your letter to us in December, you noted the improvements to departmental transparency data under this Government. Certainly, there have been a lot of improvements, and we have b…”

“I appreciate that this might not have been your total focus, but it would be useful for this Committee to have some idea when we could get a response to the report published by its predecessor.”

“What work is currently taking place on that review?”

“Our predecessor Committee published a very fine report looking at the lobbying Act. The Government have not yet commented on the report, saying that the area is under review. Could you tell us what is currently under review?”

“I would not disagree with any of that. The point is that we need to ensure there is some mechanism for democratic oversight in the process. Our previous relationship with the European Union suggests that having mechanisms to scrutinise things enabled us to better honour our commitments and to ensure they were implement…”

“Fair enough, Minister. Will Parliament be given an approval vote on the deal with the EU as a whole, or will it be on separate parts of the deal as it emerges to ensure there is democratic legitimacy on the different aspects?”

“The possibility of the UK having a role in the decision-shaping process has been discussed to ensure some level of input into the regulations—we touched on this earlier—that would be subject to dynamic alignment. Can you tell us exactly what decision shaping will look like for us as a non-member state, and how can we e…”

“Beyond the current agreements, the Bill will also reportedly allow for dynamic alignment to extend to other economic sectors in the future. We believe that parliamentary scrutiny for any such decisions will be essential. What parliamentary scrutiny mechanisms can we expect the Government to build into the Bill?”

“Clearly the Leader of the House, who is a member of the Government, has a significant role to play in that decision.”

“We will return to your opinion later, Chair, if you don’t mind.”

“At the start of the parliamentary Session the European Scrutiny Committee was brought to an end, with the Leader of the House saying it was no longer required because we are no longer subject to EU documents, despite the fact that we are subject to the European withdrawal agreement. Do you think the Government would su…”

“What mechanisms for parliamentary scrutiny are likely to be in the Bill for the provisions that will be brought forward because of this increasing relationship with the EU?”

“Can we expect a Select Committee to be tasked with reviewing the secondary legislation as it proceeds through Parliament?”

“To an extent, this is a question around MPs having access to relevant information. If we are looking to pass the dynamic alignment Bill prior to negotiations around SPS and electricity trading taking place, MPs will be voting on legislation without clarity over exactly what it is that they are voting on. Does that pres…”

“You have now taken on the role of administering the business appointment rules for Ministers. What is your view of the rules?”

“That is a fair comment.”