Sir Roger Singleton made a telling point during his interview about the new safeguarding children arrangements on the Today programme this morning.
He said that the current objections should have been raised at the time the legislation was going through Parliament in 2006. But they were not. Political commentators were among those who should bear the brunt of criticisms that the implications of the proposed scheme had not been spelled out, & that no vigorous debate had been promoted.
Many say that this kind of stifling of debate is typical of the New Labour regime but it is something that has bee annoying, irritating & sometimes alarming me for over 30 years now. Time after time the Today programme & others wheel out the studio guests for a vigorous debate – or the minister for a hard hitting interview - on the day that the law comes into effect. Almost never during the period when something could be changed – that is just reporting, the province of Today in Parliament.
PS Mary Beard has taken the trouble to check Hansard to see what our MPs had to say at the time: Vetting and barring. Where are the sensible MPs when you need them?
