Constitutional reform bill completes Commons stages
3 March 2010 (updated on 22 April 2010)
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill passed its report stage and third reading in the House of Commons. It now moves onto the House of Lords
- Video and Audio: Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill
- Commons Hansard: Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill
- Bills before Parliament: Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill
- Topical Issues: Constitution
- About Parliament: Passage of a Bill
Summary of the Bill
This is a wide-ranging Bill covering a number of different policy areas. The content varies in some significant ways from its draft version.
New chapters have been added to the Bill and the clauses on the Attorney General which were in the draft Bill have not been included.
The Bill:
- establishes a statutory basis for management of the civil service
- introduces a new parliamentary process for the ratification of treaties
- provides for the end of by-elections for hereditary peers
- makes provisions to allow for the suspension, resignation and expulsion of Members of the Lords introduces new rules on protests around Parliament
- introduces new rules on time limits for human rights actions against devolved administrations
- makes various provisions relating to judicial office holders, including the removal of the Prime Minister’s role in the process of appointing Supreme Court judges
- establishes a new corporate structure for the National Audit Office and a limit to the term of appointment to the office of Comptroller and Auditor General
- introduces measures designed to increase the transparency of financial reporting to Parliament