---

Parliamentary Standards Bill

I am sure that, at this hour, a brief reply is called for. At Second Reading the noble Baroness the Leader of the House said: ""The IPSA will also need to act in setting these procedures in a way that is compatible with the Human Rights Act. This means that courts will be able to review the exercise of functions of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority on the basis of the ordinary principles of administrative and human rights law".—[Official Report, 8/7/09; col. 679.]" One of the ordinary principles of administrative and human rights law is that anyone exercising public powers has a duty to act fairly. Therefore, at the very least, there should be no difficulty about writing that into the Bill, the Government having already accepted that the powers will be fully subject to judicial review. I am only quoting back the Second Reading speech, which has not—I take it—been retracted in the mean time.