A new report from the Institute for Government/Bennett Institute for Public Policy, published today, looks at the practical and procedural barriers that prevent Parliament from effectively fulfilling its constitutional role to scrutinise, amend and approve legislation. Recent trends – including the fast-tracking of legislation and increased use of secondary legislation – have led to less not more scrutiny. The report argues that Parliament needs to be empowered to be better able to challenge government bills.
Civil Society Alliance members participated in a roundtable as part of the research for the report. We explored the challenges facing civil society when engaging in the complex and inaccessible legislative process and considered ways to overcome the barriers we face.
The report’s recommendations include:
A requirement on the government to publish all bills in draft form (with a waiver for urgent or emergency legislation) with a a ‘menu’ of options for pre-legislative scrutiny to allow flexibility within the process and prevent adding significant additional time to a bill’s timetable in all case
Giving Commons select committees the opportunity to request pre-legislative scrutiny on any bills in their departmental remit
Allowing select committees to request a ‘select committee’ stage on all government bills, so creating the opportunity to take evidence and set out its view on the bill.
The House of Commons Commission should review of the resources available for members to support legislative scrutiny, including expert policy and legal resources.
There should be a dedicated parliamentary clerk with responsibility for advising civil society and third-sector groups on procedural matters and how to engage with the legislative process and the passage of specific bills that have been announced in the King’s Speech in each session.
If you want to find out more about the report’s findings and what it means for civil society, please join us at our next drop in session on Zoom on Wednesday 14 December, 2022 at 2.00 pm. To register please email info@civilsocietyalliance.uk