Report of the Leader's Group on Working Practices

Report of the Leader's Group on Working Practices
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Leader's Group on Working Practices
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 102
Release: 2011-04-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780108473357

The report of the Leader's Group examining the working practices of the House of Lords and the operation of self-regulation was published today (Tuesday 26 April). Recommendations in the report include changes to enable the Lords better to fulfil its core functions of scrutinising government, testing out and reviewing legislation, and debating important issues. The report also suggests ways in which the House of Lords could make the most of its unique strengths and resources, including its Members' skills and experience.

Review of Select Committee Activity and Proposals for New Committee Activity

Review of Select Committee Activity and Proposals for New Committee Activity
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Liaison Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2013-03-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780108550522

In this report the Liaison Committee conducts a brief review of House of Lords policy committees, in advance of the appointment of those committees in the new Parliament

Parliament and the Law

Parliament and the Law
Author: Alexander Horne
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2022-09-22
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1509934103

The third edition of Parliament and the Law presents a timely and valuable resource covering recent developments. Brexit, the #MeToo movement, and the COVID-19 pandemic all presented Parliament with a series of challenges. This edition includes new chapters on Brexit, legislation and scrutiny, the restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster treaty scrutiny, votes of confidence and the Fixed Term Parliament Act, and the financing of Parliament. This is a multi-disciplinary work authored by lawyers, political scientists, parliamentary officials, and practitioners and is supported by the Study of Parliament Group (SPG).

Ensuring standards in the quality of legislation

Ensuring standards in the quality of legislation
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Political and Constitutional Reform Committee
Publisher: Stationery Office
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2013-05-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780215057471

There has been repeated criticism in recent years from a variety of sources about both the quantity and quality of legislation. The Committee's inquiry into Ensuring standards in the quality of legislation has considered these criticisms, analysed the core problems and causes of bad quality legislation, and looked to provide solutions for both the Government and Parliament to improve the quality of legislation. The Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly and National Assembly for Wales have adapted the Westminster model in order to improve the quality of their legislation; it is now the turn of Westminster to look at their processes and adapt them for use here. The Committee has concluded that it would be beneficial for Parliament and the Government to work together to agree standards for what makes good legislation, and as a starting point for discussion publishes a draft Code of Legislative Standards with the report. The Committee also recommends the creation of a Joint Legislative Standards Committee to provide oversight of the Cabinet's Parliamentary Business and Legislation Committee's approach to and use of the finalised Code of Legislative Standards, to ensure that the quality standards set out in the Code of Legislative Standards are met. The Committee considers that these recommendations would also improve the quality of constitutional legislation, in particular, by requiring the Government to adopt an agreed test to identify constitutional legislation and thereby improve Parliament's scrutiny of it

The process of constitutional change

The process of constitutional change
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Select Committee on the Constitution
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 60
Release: 2011-07-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780108473661

The constitution is the foundation upon which law and government are built. Yet the United Kingdom has no agreed process for constitutional change. The Committee does not accept that the government should be able to pick and choose which processes to apply when proposing significant constitutional change. It therefore recommends in this report the adoption of a clear and consistent process. These recommendations are not intended to restrict the government's right to initiate constitutional change, but to hold ministers to account for their decisions. The Committee regard it as essential that, prior to the introduction of a bill which provides for significant constitutional change, the government considers the impact of the proposals upon the existing constitutional arrangements, subject the proposals to detailed scrutiny in the Cabinet and its committees, consult widely, publish green and white papers, and subject the bill to pre-legislative scrutiny.The Committee looks at these processes in this report, as well as considering the desirability of public engagement and building consensus. Also the importance of not rushing parliamentary scrutiny of legislation once introduced into Parliament and of conducting comprehensive post-legislative scrutiny of significant constitutional legislation once passed. Also recommended is the minister responsible for a significant constitutional bill in each House set out the processes to which a bill has been subjected in a written ministerial statement. This comprehensive package from which the government should depart only in exceptional circumstances and where there are clearly justifiable reasons for so doing. The Committee believes this approach is pragmatic and achievable, enabling the flexibility of the United Kingdom's current constitutional arrangements to be retained whilst enhancing and underpinning those arrangements

The Contemporary House of Lords

The Contemporary House of Lords
Author: Meg Russell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2013-07-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199671567

Painting a detailed portrait of the House of Lords since reform removed most hereditary members in 1999, this book demonstrates the chamber's newly diverse membership and substantial policy impact in British politics. It also places the Lords in a comparative context, asks if it can be considered 'legitimate', and examines the likelihood of reform.

HLP 116 - Delegated Legislation and Parliament: A Response to the Strathclyde Review

HLP 116 - Delegated Legislation and Parliament: A Response to the Strathclyde Review
Author: The Stationery Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2016
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0108003434

Following a defeat in the House of Lords on the Draft Tax Credits (Income Thresholds and Determination of Rates) (Amendment) Regulations 2015, the Government asked Lord Strathclyde to examine how the Government might "secure their business in Parliament" and to consider how to ensure "the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters, and secondary legislation". There are indeed serious problems with the current system of delegated legislation that must be addressed. But by tasking Lord Strathclyde to consider the balance of power between the two Houses of Parliament, it seems to us that the Government focused his Review on the wrong questions. It consequently addressed the wrong issues. We believe that the more serious concerns arising from the delegated legislation process are rooted in the relationship between Parliament and the Executive. For that reason our report examines not only the options considered by the Strathclyde Review, but wider issues relating to the delegated legislation process that were outside the remit of that Review. Successive governments have proposed primary legislation containing broad and poorly-defined delegated powers, including Henry VIII powers, that give wide discretion to ministers - often with few indications as to how those powers should be used. This Committee and others have noted a trend whereby delegated legislation has increasingly been used to address issues of policy and principle, rather than to manage administrative and technical changes.