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Parliament (Joint Departments) Bill [HL]

I support my noble friend’s amendment. I added my name to it because it is a sensible way of addressing a point that came up at Second Reading. As my noble friend indicated, it anticipates the future if a joint department—not just PICT but any future joint department—is created. It is important that there is transparency and some reporting to each House and this would be one way of achieving that. I regard it as a necessary but not sufficient condition for informing the Houses about what a joint department is doing. One would assume that a department would want to disseminate material about what it is doing, keeping both Houses informed as a matter of course, but it is invaluable to have this on the record as part of the Bill itself. It would trigger some action on behalf of the joint department and serve as a reminder of the responsibility to both Houses. I therefore strongly support my noble friend’s amendment.