Child Poverty Bill

My Lords, I go back to the principle that this is an independent advisory body. In our debate on Thursday of last week, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the importance of independence in setting up this advisory body. If it is to be independent, the value of the commission will rest entirely on its ability to provide independent expert advice. However, as the noble Lord said, if the Secretary of State feels that the advice that he or she is given is not advice that they can work with or does not move the policy forward, ultimately it will be very much within the power of the Secretary of State to take decisions on what the advice and strategy should contain and on the best way of addressing child poverty. I do not know whether that directly answers the noble Lord’s position, but it would be unusual for a Secretary of State to continue working with a member or members of a commission who were unable to meet the terms of reference of the work set out, which is within the purview of the Secretary of State. However, there is always space for minority views. The noble Lord will know that often there are one or two people—maybe more—on such bodies who wish to put in a minority report on a particular issue. That can and does happen within the machinery of government. The advice that the commission gives to the Secretary of State will be made public, so it will be clear in the public domain what is and what is not a minority view on the commission. Ultimately, it will be for the Secretary of State to decide which advice he wants to take from his commission and which he does not.