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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

I recognise that, as the Secretary of State rightly says, all of us are busy, though I am sure that we will all have learned the lesson that all the forms and applications for expenses and allowances must be completed by us, and that we should not rely on office staff to do that. We all know that there have been some terrible abuses, but where an open and transparent claim has been signed off, the biggest concern and the aspect that has aroused the anger of many Members of Parliament on the grounds of natural justice has been the attempt at retrospection—a very successful attempt under Sir Thomas Legg—going back some years. I have always said that the rules were far too lax and that, in many ways, Members cannot complain. None the less, the issue that arises, which my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) has tried to address, is the need for some sort of clearance process. That would apply if we had a compliance officer. If an open and transparent claim is made and accepted, surely it is wrong that many years later a Member should be expected to repay or more importantly, even if repayment is made, should be seen to have committed wrongdoing, where in fact there has been openness, transparency and the opportunity for clearance. Does the Secretary of State not see that there would be great benefits from putting in place some sort of clearance process that would avoid such problems in the future?