Member

I argued earlier that the power of direction should be left as a backstop power for Ministers when dealing with corporations, as those powers keep public corporations in their place, which is hierarchically below the Government of the day. I now argue that placing parliamentary processes around the use of the power of direction undermines ministerial accountability for the use of that power. As the Minister said earlier, the power of direction would in practice be used by Ministers for only a very rare cause for intervention in the affairs of a public body. The power of direction provides an equally rare opportunity for ministerial accountability to exist and for the effect of ministerial decisions to be scrutinised by Parliament.