Lords to question Director General of DPM's office on inter-governmental relations
The House of Lords Constitution Committee will tomorrow take evidence from Dr Philip Rycroft, Director General of the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, and Helen MacNamara, Director of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat. The session forms part of the Committee's inquiry into inter-governmental relations in the UK.
The session will look in detail at how inter-governmental relations between the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland work. The Committee will explore beyond the high level descriptions in the Memorandum of Understanding and will focus how the relationships work in practice.
Areas the Committee will cover will include:
- The different roles of the Cabinet Office and the Territorial Offices in organising inter-governmental relations and the lines of responsibility within the UK Government for maintaining relations with the devolved administrations;
- How the Cabinet Office keep track of policy overlap between the UK Government and the devolved administrations;
- How often staff are exchanged between the governments in the UK and how knowledge and best practice is shared;
- How devolved administrations take part in the development of UK Government policy;
- How agendas for Joint Ministerial Committee plenary and sub-committee meetings are set;
- What mechanisms exist to enforce adherence to the Memorandum of Understanding; and
- How problems or disagreements are escalated to the Joint Ministerial Committee ‘dispute' resolution procedure and by whom.
The session will be webcast at www.parliamentlive.tv and is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
