Downing Street Says » Sir Christopher Kelly

Asked what the point of the review was when the Leader of the House was already casting doubts on major areas of it, the PMS said that he would dispute that characterisation. The Leader of the House was asked a number of questions about possible implications of the Kelly Review on a TV programme yesterday.

The Prime Minister’s overriding objective here was to see the end of an old discredited system. We were now getting to a stage where Sir Christopher Kelly was going to report. It was then for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) to take that report and make sure that it was implemented. Those were the steps that needed to be taken and the Prime Minister was looking forward to welcoming the Kelly Report.

Put that there were reports that IPSA would not be in a position to implement the report until April of next year, which was effectively the “long grass”, the PMS replied that IPSA had been established. What it did not have yet was a Chair and a Board so appointments would need to be made. It already had an interim Chief Executive, Andrew MacDonald, so implementation could start.

Asked if IPSA would begin work immediately, the PMS said that it was a matter of urgency, but it was not in the hands of the Prime Minister. Put that the process would not be finished until after the next election, the PMS said it depended on what Sir Christopher Kelly recommended and the nature of the recommendations.

Put that the membership of IPSA seemed to be vetted by the same group of MPs who tried to stop others getting access to the information in the first place and how could the Prime Minister reassure the public that the same thing wouldn’t happen again, the PMS replied that the chair and members of IPSA would be appointed through a fair and open competition, in line with all public appointments.

Asked if the same House of Commons Commission would be running the vetting process, the PMS said that the appointments would need to ratified by the new Speakers Committee. The PMS added that the most important point was that the appointments process would be exactly in line with other public appointments.

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that MPs got a fair deal out of this as well as the public, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had set three objectives for the Kelly Committee; that it should deliver increased transparency, accountability and reduce costs to the taxpayer. The Prime Minister believed that the majority of MPs were committed to public service and would want to make sure we had the right people in the House of Commons and Parliament more generally.

The most important thing was to get through this stage and move on to a system that was better than the previous system. The Prime Minister thought the welfare of MPs was important but he also took the view that we had a system that was discredited and if this system was not improved, the public would continue to hold the House of Parliament in low esteem.

Asked whether the Prime Minister thought that IPSA would take this report and implement it before reviewing it, the PMS said that IPSA would take the report and it was then up to them to implement it. During that process they were able to shape it as appropriate. It was not for the Prime Minister to determine how it was implemented.

Asked if there was any more information on the Prime Minister’s meeting with Sir Christopher Kelly this morning, the PMS said that it was always intended that the Prime Minister would meet Sir Christopher Kelly, but he wouldn’t comment further on that.

Put that the Prime Minister had said that he did not want the position of MP to be the preserve of the wealthy, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had said that during the Speakers Conference.

Asked whether the Prime Minister would be powerless to stop this, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was never powerless in any sense, but in this position he had made it very clear that he welcomed the Kelly Report, that he had set the Kelly Report three objectives and that it was implemented as quickly as possible.

Put that if Sir Christopher Kelly made recommendations that he asked to be implemented before the next election, would IPSA be ready in time to scrutinise them, the PMS said that he could not comment on behalf of IPSA. The Prime Minister would want to see as much as possible implemented as soon as possible from the Kelly Review.

Asked what power IPSA had to tinker with recommendations, the PMS said that IPSA had a statutory responsibility to consult interested parties. How they did that was for them to decide. As far as implementation was concerned, IPSA would need to make the decisions on how best to implement the recommendations, in keeping with their remit.

Asked if there had been an inquiry set up into who had leaked the report, the PMS said that there had been concern about it but the Government had not launched any inquiry into it. A number of people had said how disappointing it was that these leaks had taken place.

Asked what would happen next in the Legg Review, the PMS replied that we were looking towards later this year for the completion of it.

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» Monday, November 2, 2009

Sir Christopher Kelly

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