The bill, which has its second reading today (9 November), gives wide powers to ministers to abolish, merge or amend nearly 200 public bodies, or quangos, including the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.
Crae is calling on the government to set out why a substantial reduction in parliamentary scrutiny is necessary or appropriate for the reform of the institutions, and human rights bodies in particular.
It warns that the threat to the commissioner is in contradiction of the United Nations (UN) Paris Principles, which require national independent human rights institutions to be constitutionally entrenched or established by law.
In the past, House of Lords peers have been more supportive of a rights-based commissioner than ministers, having voted for a set of powers and duties akin to the UN Paris Principles during the passage of the Children Act in 2004. But these were later overturned in the Commons.
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