Member

At the moment, the idea that the Secretary of State can nominate somebody and the King simply appoints, without any parliamentary processes, seems somewhat negligent. I wonder what thought His Majesty’s Government have given to finding a way to allow Parliament to play a role. The noble Lord may say, “No, it’s not a statutory instrument and, no, it’s not going before a committee to be tested and questioned”, but maybe it could be or should be. If not, could the Minister tell us whether there is another way for parliamentary engagement? If the Armed Forces commissioner of the UK is intended to look similar to the German model, a parliamentary role would be relevant. It seems unlikely that we would want to go through a vote of the whole Chamber, particularly because we do not have provisions for secret ballots—but that is another alternative. This is really a plea for parliamentary engagement and for not allowing executive capture.