Lord Bichard (CB)

My Lords, at Second Reading, I pointed out that the various failures that we have suffered in recent years—I will not recite them yet again—have happened notwithstanding the fact that we have had codes of conduct in place. The Civil Service Code, the Ministerial Code and the much talked about Nolan principles have not prevented these awful failings taking place. The point of that is to say that codes can become pious statements of good intent. I am absolutely clear that the Government do not want this Bill to fall into that category. If it is not to fall into that category, we will have to ensure that reasonable complaints or requests for investigation, whether from whistleblowers or wherever, are actually investigated. Many of the failings that we have seen are a result of that not being done. I know that it is difficult sometimes—I have run large organisations myself—to conclude whether a complaint is reasonable or significant, but that task needs to be done. I speak in support of the various contributions that have been made simply because I do not want this to become a pious code; I want to be sure that, when complaints and requests for investigations are made, they are actioned and that someone is monitoring that.