Never in peace time has a prime minister gathered around himself such an assemblage of apparatchiks unaccountable to Parliament

Committee report

The Commons transport select committee says it can not make Lord Birt, former director-general of the BBC, appear before it because he is a member of the House of Lords.

The MPs say this convention should be changed because advisers to Mr Blair - and other advisers - "abuse it to evade scrutiny".

But the Labour-dominated committee also uses the report to launch a scathing attack on what it views as Downing Street's damaging interference in the work of individual departments.

That criticism comes as the committee for standards in public life begins an investigation into the relationship between ministers, their special advisers and the civil service.

'Widespread concern'

In their report, published on Monday, the MPs say a prime minister's department has effectively been created through the growth of staff working in Downing Street.

"Never in peacetime has a prime minister gathered around himself such an assemblage of apparatchiks unaccountable to Parliament," says the report.

Downing Street says others can answer better than Lord Birt

Downing Street does need to keep in touch with policy developments across government, argue the MPs.

But the growth of Number 10's central unit goes further and "it is far from clear that it is a force for good and rational government".

The report continues: "There is widespread concern that the growth of the central unit generates an irresistible urge to meddle with the work of other Departments.

"Both in policy analysis and its implementation, the central unit can be part of the problem, not the solution."

'Blinkered thinking'

The report continues: "A small number of people, often like Lord Birt with few relevant qualifications beyond the ear of the prime minister, second-guess the work of experienced civil servants.

"This meddling makes departmental civil servants' and ministers' efforts to grapple with huge problems more difficult."

The only conclusion that can reasonably be reached is that the prime minister, or his most senior advisers, refused to allow Lord Birt to appear before us because his performance would be an embarrassment

Transport Committee report

Powerful business interests also lobby Downing Street with their demands because they will get a better welcome than from officials in policy departments, says the report.

The committee claims the idea of business planning zones - areas where firms can expand without needing planning permission - was put into a consultation paper because of such pressure.

Lord Birt is doing unpaid work for the prime minister, including "blue skies" thinking about the future of transport policy in the UK.

Downing Street says he has no "executive" role and in any case his work falls outside the remit of the transport committee's inquiry into the government's 10-year transport plan.

'Embarrassment'

But the committee says that work is still relevant to its investigation, even though details of his role are "sketchy".

Lord Birt has no past expertise in transport policy and the MPs say they want to find out what grasp he has of the subject.

Dunwoody's committee is scathing about Number 10's interference

The report adds: "The only conclusion that can reasonably be reached is that the prime minister, or his most senior advisers, refused to allow Lord Birt to appear before us because his performance would be an embarrassment."

If Mr Blair does not want his advisers to appear before the committee, then he should answers the questions himself, it argues.