Improving Parliament's scrutiny of bills – Lords Constitution Committee calls for evidence
The House of Lords Constitution Committee today invites contributions to the next stage of its inquiry on the Legislative Process.
The Committee is examining the passage of legislation through Parliament and in particular:
- How bills are considered at each stage of the process in both the Commons and Lords
- The use of parliamentary time for legislative scrutiny
- The quality of the explanatory materials that accompany bills
- The involvement of the public and stakeholders in the process
This is the third part of the Committee's review of the legislative process. The Committee's report on preparing legislation for Parliament was published in October 2017, and evidence has been taken on the delegation of powers, with a report expected in the coming months.
Chairman of the Constitution Committee, Baroness Taylor of Bolton, said:
“Better scrutiny leads to better laws, and so how Parliament scrutinises legislation is vitally important. We will examine how bills are considered at each stage of the legislative process, and consider the explanatory materials that accompany bills, to see how scrutiny might be improved.
“Developments in technology present new opportunities for Parliament and its scrutiny of legislation. We will explore whether there are opportunities for Parliament to use technology more effectively to enhance scrutiny and to make the process more transparent and comprehensible.
“The public and those affected by changes to the law increasingly expect to have a say in how those laws are made. We will consider how public and stakeholder engagement currently operates within the legislative process and how it might be improved.
“We are interested in hearing from anyone who has views on these issues and I would encourage anyone with an interest in this area to submit written evidence to us by Monday 16 April.”
Written evidence should be submitted online via the Committee's website, by 5pm on Monday 16 April 2018.
