---

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

If the distinguished Select Committee Chairman is saying that the only way to deal with this is to leave it to the courts, that is a counsel of despair, especially in circumstances such as these in which we are not offering the courts any guidance. The approach in the 2004 Bill seems to me to be better. If one cannot offer a coherent definition, the next best thing to do is not to do nothing, which is what the Government are doing, but to provide a list. The 2004 Bill did that, and amendment 10 would require the Government to go down that road. It would also give them the power to change the list from time to time. I do not want the Committee to divide twice on the same issue, and I recognise that new clause 33 includes within it the same idea that the Government should be under an obligation effectively to tell us who they are counting as being in the civil service. New clause 33 would also goes further than amendment 10 by requiring that there should be important information about costs, and I fully support what was said about that. Therefore, if an opportunity arises to support new clause 33 in the Lobbies, I will urge my hon. Friends to do so, but I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.