Member

Following on from what the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, said on Amendments 74C and 74D, I have a genuine question for clarification about the Minister delegating functions. I hope that the Minister will be able to confirm that the Government will ensure that none of these functions will ever be delegated to an outside agency. I am thinking of the issues of consultants and outsourcing that have brought so much government action into disrepute, and the companies that have had real issues in terms of the way they have behaved in delivering public contracts. We know that a handful of companies deliver most of the large government contracts. I hope that the Minister will confirm that this will never be outsourced, because that would be deeply problematic. Perhaps the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, would address that issue.