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Housing and Regeneration Bill

moved Amendment No. 8: 8: Schedule 1, page 149, line 37, at end insert— ““( ) No member of staff shall be a member of the HCA nor of any committee or sub-committee.”” The noble Baroness said: In moving Amendment No. 8, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 9. Amendment No. 8 removes a provision of the schedule and replaces it with pretty much, but not quite, the exact opposite. This is another point about governance. It is not at all personal to any members of staff of the HCA who have been or may be appointed, but it is to provide that no member of staff should be a member of the board, a committee or a sub-committee. The noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, trailed this in his last amendment, and I entirely agree. Members of the board and members of the staff have entirely distinct roles and responsibilities in an organisation of this sort, which should not necessarily follow the model of a city corporation or a PLC. They are quite different responsibilities and it muddies the waters if the chief executive—I assume that that would be the member of staff primarily at issue—takes board decisions. I raise this point in the particular context of London, where I understand—although I do not know whether it is still proposed—that the Mayor of London will chair the London sub-committee with the chief executive being the vice chair. That muddles who is taking the decisions. Political decisions as well as executive decisions will have to be taken. I am not suggesting that the chief executive and others will not contribute to the making of policy, but policy is made and the executive should carry it out. I have said enough for the Minister to respond. One could obviously have this debate in great detail and at great length, but I suspect that that would not be favourable to the Committee this evening. I beg to move.