Lord Lemos (Lab)

I understand the point that my noble friend is making—or at least I think I do—but I am very happy to meet with him and others, including Cindy Butts, to deal with this point. The legislation also already provides the standing advocate with interested person status at inquests for major incidents to which the IPA has been appointed. This was a policy choice made during the passage of the Victims and Prisoners Act, recognising the advocate’s role in supporting and representing the interests of victims, survivors and bereaved families within those proceedings. Parliament chose not to include a broader participatory role at that point. The amendment refers to the advocate having a role in all inquiries, investigations and inquests where public authorities or public officials are, or may become, participants. The IPA’s role is entirely linked to major incidents. Therefore, it would not be appropriate, in the Government’s view, for the IPA’s role to be expanded beyond major incidents as proposed in the amendment, as it was not intended or designed for this purpose. There is of course a clear opportunity to review the role of the IPA. The noble Lord, Lord Alton, and other noble Lords discussed the arrangements for deployment. That review is imminent; it will take place in 2027, and we will review those arrangements then. I am sure that all noble Lords agree with us that the advocate is given time to establish her role and office before that review takes place. The Government also retain the ability to revise existing guidance in light of operational experience, should that prove necessary. Amendments 9 and 125 seek to confirm that the duty of candour applies to any dealings that public authorities and public officials may have with the Independent Public Advocate, and to provide the Independent Public Advocate with adequate functions to carry out certain tasks related to the Bill. I can see the noble Baroness, Lady Sanderson, smiling; I think noble Lords know that Ministers like me, giving commitments at the Dispatch Box to fund other bodies, do not go down well with the Treasury. I know that various business cases have already been put in by the IPA and are being considered by my colleague Minister Davies-Jones. We will take that forward. I do not think that the noble Baroness would expect me to go much further than that, although she eloquently made the case for me to do so. For similar reasons, we do not consider it appropriate to require the standing advocate to monitor and report on compliance with the provisions of the Bill. This would represent a significant expansion of the advocate’s role and could create overlap with ongoing or future investigations. The standing advocate already has powers to publish reports, raise concerns about the treatment of victims and bring matters to the attention of Ministers and the public. In conclusion, as I have already indicated, we will continue to discuss these matters with all interested Peers, including the noble Baroness, Lady Sanderson, my noble friend Lord Wills and my noble friend Lord Roe, who has been a robust and con brio participant in the discussion so far. As the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson, said, I hope we can make some progress on this before Report. With that, I ask noble Lords not to press their amendments.