Lord Vaux of Harrowden (CB)

My Lords, I speak very briefly in support of Amendment 2. Before I start, I would like to echo the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, about the exemplary engagement on this Bill, which has been extremely constructive. I am very grateful to both noble Baronesses for that. The Bill as it is currently written creates a range of powers for the Minister of the Cabinet Office to investigate fraud against public authorities and to recover amounts, but the Minister can use those powers only in relation to other public authorities if requested to do so by that public authority. That does seem somewhat perverse. It is not uncommon for those who manage organisations to hide the fact that they have been subject to fraud, because they could be criticised for allowing that fraud. We could have a situation where the Minister has reason to believe that a public authority has been the victim of fraud—perhaps a whistleblower has tipped them off, as in the last group—but, despite having reasonable suspicion, the Minister would not be able to use these new powers. I do not see how that makes sense. If these new powers are to be effective in reducing fraud, it must make sense that the Minister can use them in any situation reasonably considered to be in the public interest, not only when the public authority requests them.