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under the present Government and it is likely to lead to some alteration to the
statutes governing Crown entities. This may well include the Law Commission.
242. In terms of the typology used in the Crown entity review, it is clear that the Law
Commission is a non-company Crown entity. It is not a Crown agent in the
sense that it is not required to give effect to the policy of the Government of the
day. It enjoys independence to make policy recommendations.
243. The relationship of the Law Commission to other Crown entities can be regarded
as highly unusual. It has the power of independence concerning its
recommendations, but it must work closely with the Government of the day and
the Minister in order to secure the confidence necessary for the Government to
adopt its recommendations.
244. It is likely that a Crown Entities Bill will be promoted in the immediate future. It
is likely to include a set of generic governance and accountability provisions
applying to all Crown entities.
245. As far as the evaluator can tell, the thinking within the Government concerning
the generic provisions may cause difficulty for the Law Commission and its
legislation. The Law Commission does not have a Board in the same way that
most Crown entities do. The Commission itself is a deliberative body
concerning the nature of its recommendations to the Government; it is a not a
body that is concerned with administrative matters.
246. Neither would the instrument of a statement of intent sit easily with the Law
Commission's current methods of operation. There will be few other
independent Crown entities that have such a heavy policy advice function.
247. This is not the place to analyse in depth the issues that arise from the
Government's initiative on generic legislation. But in the investigations that
have been made, the evaluator is convinced that the prospect of these changes
need to be analysed by the Government at the same time that it is considering the
recommendations contained in this Report.