Summary
This Command Paper
'The
Governance of Britain - The Government's Draft Legislative Programme' (Cm.
7175) is the first annual statement setting out a draft legislative
programme to be laid before the next Parliament.
Where previously the
legislative programme was not divulged in advance of the Queen's Speech at the
State Opening of Parliament, this new annual statement allows Parliament and
the public advance notice of the legislation that the Government plans to bring
forward.
This statement is the first step towards reaffirming the
authority of Parliament and clarifying the legislative process, as set out in
the Government's proposals for constitutional reform published in July 2007 as
'The
Governance of Britain' (Cm. 7170).
'The Governance of Britain' (Cm.
7170) seeks to create stronger accountability of the government to Parliament,
greater engagement between Parliament and the people, greater engagement
between the government and the people, and a strong Cabinet government. 'The
Governance of Britain - The Government's Draft Legislative Programme' (Cm.
7175) does this by enhancing the consultation process and increasing the
involvement of Parliament and the public in the creation of legislation.
Legislation proposed in the Draft Programme includes:
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How does it
affect me?
This affects you if you are a UK citizen or resident: the
legislative plans outlined could become UK law.
Legislation in the
2007-08 Parliamentary session will focus on issues including climate change,
energy, skills and pensions, with housing a priority.
What are the
proposed Bills about?
Children in Care Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to reform the statutory framework around the care
system to enable children and young people to receive high quality care and
support and drive improvements in the delivery of services focused on the needs
of the child.
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Establish the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission as a Non
Departmental Public Body
- Amend the Child Support Act 1992 to simplify and strengthen the assessment
and enforcement of child maintenance liability
- Set up a scheme paying
a lump sum to those suffering from the asbestos related disease mesothelioma
who are not currently eligible for compensation.
Climate Change Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to create a
long term legal framework to reduce the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions up to
2050 and beyond.
Constitutional Reform Bill
The
purpose of the Bill is to take forward the initial legislative elements of the
Constitutional Renewal package to be set out in the Government’s Green Paper
‘The
Governance of Britain’ (Cm. 7170) published on 3 July. Following the Green
Paper, the shape of future legislation will be determined by a process which
will include consultation and discussions.
Coroners Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Deliver an improved service for
bereaved people
- Introduce both national leadership while ensuring that
the service remains firmly grounded locally
- Ensure more effective
investigations and inquests.
Counter Terrorism
Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Ensure all available
information can be used to fight terrorism
- Deal with terrorist suspects
after they have been charged
- Make other changes to legislation to
assist in the fight against terrorism.
Criminal Justice
and Immigration Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to take forward the Government’s criminal
justice reform agenda by reducing re-offending, protecting the public,
promoting justice, improving access to justice and increasing confidence in the
justice system.
Crossrail Bill
The purpose of the
Bill is to:
- Grant powers for the construction, maintenance and
operation of Crossrail: a new east-west railway linking Maidenhead and Heathrow
with Shenfield and Abbey Wood through new tunnels under central London
- Performing a similar function to a public inquiry, a special Select
Committee stage is added to the normal public bill process to consider
petitions from those whose property and private rights are affected.
Education and Skills Bill
The purpose of the Bill is
to raise to 18 the minimum age at which young people can leave education or
training, and bring in the legislative changes needed to implement key elements
of the
Leitch
Review into the UK’s long-term skills needs.
Employment
Simplification Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to simplify, clarify
and build a stronger enforcement regime for key aspects of employment law.
Energy Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to help the UK
to ensure secure supplies of energy, tackle climate change and target fuel
poverty measures more effectively.
European Communities
(Finance) Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to amend the European
Communities Act 1972 to include the revised decision on the Communities’ system
of own resources (Own Resources Decision (ORD)).
Health and
Social Care Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Create
a new integrated regulator for health and adult social care, Ofcare, bringing
together existing health and social care regulators into one regulatory
body
- Reform professional regulation to enhance public and professional
confidence and strengthen clinical governance as part of the Government’s
response to the
Shipman
Inquiry
- Include provisions to make a one off payment to all
expectant mothers from the 29th week of pregnancy.
Housing and Regeneration Bill
The purpose of the Bill is
to:
- Support delivery of housing supply through the creation of a
new homes agency
- Reform social housing regulation to put tenants at the
heart of social housing, increase choice and drive up standards
- Reform
social housing to ensure that it is a modern and flexible public service.
Human Tissues and Embryos Bill
The purpose of the
Bill is to:
- Update the regulation of assisted reproduction and
embryo research
- Create the Regulatory Authority for Tissue &
Embryos (RATE), replacing the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority
(HFEA) and the Human Tissue Authority (HTA).
Local
Transport Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to support the
Government’s strategy to tackle road congestion and improve public transport by
ensuring local authorities have the right powers to take action to meet local
transport needs.
National Insurance Contributions Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Implement part of the
recent Budget announcement by the Chancellor on 21 March 2007 setting out a
package of reforms to modernise the tax and benefit system
- Enable
alignment of the Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) for Class 1 NICs purposes with the
point at which higher rate income tax becomes payable
- Remove the
current primary Social Security legislation that restricts the maximum UEL to
no more than seven and a half times the Primary Threshold. The Primary
Threshold is the point at which Class 1 NICs become payable on a person’s
earnings.
Pensions Bill
The purpose of the
Bill is to enact the remaining provisions of our pensions reform package set
out in the May 2006 White Paper,
'Security
in Retirement: Towards a new pension system' (Cm. 6841).
Planning Reform Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to
streamline and improve planning including introducing a single consents regime
for major infrastructure projects, establishing an independent infrastructure
planning commission and further measures to improve the town and country
planning system.
Planning Gain Supplement Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Create a major new levy to
capture a modest portion of the land value uplift created at the grant of full
planning permission and to generate additional revenue for investment in local
and regional infrastructure
- Alongside the introduction of a Planning
Gain Supplement, planning obligations in England will be reformed to help speed
up the process, providing greater certainty for developers, and transparency
for communities.
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions
Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Further advance the
Government’s policy on better regulation by establishing the Local Better
Regulation Office (LBR)) as a statutory corporation
- Provide a framework
for a range of alternative administrative sanctions for regulatory
non-compliance.
Sale of Student Loans Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to enable the Secretary of State to conduct a
programme of sales of the student loan portfolio.
Unclaimed
Assets Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- Enable the
banking industry to transfer unclaimed assets in the banking system so that
they may be reinvested in society, whilst ensuring the rights of owners to be
reunited with their assets are protected
- Legislation is needed to meet
the 2005 election Manifesto commitment, which aimed to see banks reunite
unclaimed assets with their owners or to channel them back into the community.
See more on the
proposed Bills on the website of the
Office
of the Leader of the House of Commons.
Read the full text of the
Prime
Minister’s statement on the Draft Legislative Programme.
Get
involved: see more on the public consultations on
the 10 Downing Street website.