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Greater London Authority Bill

moved Amendment No. 9: 9: Schedule 1, page 53, line 32, at end insert— ““( ) A copy of the candidate’s application (from which the candidate’s residential address and telephone numbers may be deleted) shall be attached to the notification.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I will also speak to Amendments Nos. 13 and 19, and I can be fairly brief. The whole group, in which the Government also have amendments, relates to procedure around confirmation hearings. Amendment No. 9 provides for a copy of the candidate’s application to be attached to the notification by the Mayor of the proposed appointment. Taking on board comments made in Committee, I have provided that the candidate’s address and phone numbers may be deleted from the application. That is for practical reasons. It would be odd if the applicant did not provide all the relevant and sensible information but, as has been pointed out, confirmation hearings are not job interviews. It will not be possible to construct a list of standard questions to be applied every time. For the Assembly to have the application form will assist it to construct appropriate questions and hold confirmation hearings in the best way possible. Amendment No. 13 would allow for the flood of appointments following an election. The Government have an amendment to a similar effect in the group. Amendment No. 19 extends the ability of an individual member, in this case the chair, not only to call meetings for confirmation hearings—the Government accept the practical desirability of that—but to set out the Assembly’s requirements by way of documents and information to be provided by the applicant. I have proposed extending the scope of what the chair can do from simply calling the meeting because of my concern that if the chair is not able to take those steps it could largely negate the desirable effect of the Government’s amendment, which is just about calling meetings. If the Government are not able to deal with this matter at this stage, perhaps on Third Reading they will be prepared to come back to it. I beg to move.