THE UK GOVERNMENT'S DRAFT
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME
In
July, Gordon Brown made a statement to the House of Commons on his
proposed legislative programme for the forthcoming Parliamentary year,
breaking with the longstanding practice that the legislative programme is
not divulged until the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament.
By doing so, the Prime Minister fulfilled a promise to allow debate in the
Houses of Parliament and amongst the public in advance of any final
decisions. (The Queen’s Speech will open the new session of Parliament on
Tuesday 6 November this year).
These are therefore only proposals for Bills and "much work is still
required to get these proposals ready to be introduced as Bills", which
means that the final programme will include some changes and that there
are also likely to be some further additions to the programme in the run
up to the Queen’s Speech itself and once the session has begun. The
Government is also apparently considering Bills on Marine Heritage
Protection; Equality (bringing existing legislation together); Lords
Reform; implementing the European Union Reform Treaty; and Fraud (Trials
without a Jury) Bill; as is normal practice, there will also be a Finance
Bill.
The programme as it stands contains 23 Bills, of which 17 (detailed here)
apply to Scotland, either wholly or partially. (Those that just apply to
England and Wales include: Children in Care Bill; Coroners Bill; Crossrail
Bill; Education and Skills Bill; Housing and Regeneration Bill; and Sale
of Student Loans Bill).
1. Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
Carried over from 2006-07 session, this
Bill will set up the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (as a
Non Departmental Public Body) to replace the beleaguered Child Support
Agency, with tougher enforcement powers against absent parents who refuse
to pay for their children. It will simplify the assessment of child
maintenance and encourage voluntary maintenance arrangements. The Bill
will also set up a
scheme paying a lump sum to those suffering from the asbestos-related
disease mesothelioma who are not currently eligible for compensation.
The Bill would apply to: England, Wales and Scotland.
2. Climate Change Bill
As
announced in a draft Bill earlier this year, this Bill includes
statutory targets to reduce
UK
carbon dioxide emissions by at least 60% by 2050 and 26-32% by 2020,
against a 1990 baseline. 5 year carbon targets will be introduced,
requiring the Government to set, through secondary legislation, binding
limits on carbon dioxide emissions during five year budget periods,
beginning in 2008. The Committee on Climate Change (a statutory, advisory
NDPB) will be established to advise the Government on the pathway to the
2050 targets; it will report annually to Parliament on the UK’s progress
towards achieving its targets. The Bill contains enabling powers to
introduce new trading schemes relating to green house gas emissions
through secondary legislation.
Although the Bill would apply to the whole UK, the Scottish Parliament
will consider a separate Bill with tougher, 80% carbon reduction targets.
3. Constitutional Reform Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to take forward the initial legislative
elements of the Constitutional Renewal package set out in the Green Paper
The Governance of Britain published in July, which aims to
rebalance power between Parliament and Government and to strengthen
democracy (see separate SCPO Briefing on this).
Dependent on subsequent
consultations the main elements of the Bill could include a statutory
basis for the role of Parliament in the process of ratifying treaties and
for the civil service.
The Bill would apply throughout the UK; although the constitution is a
reserved matter, the Government promise to "work closely with the Devolved
Administrations" on matters which may have an impact on their
responsibilities.
4. Counter Terrorism Bill
The Bill fleshes out proposals announced in June by the former Home
Secretary John Reid. It includes proposals for extending detention limits
for terror suspects beyond 28 days, allowing terrorist suspects to be
questioned after charge
and the drawing of adverse inferences from a
refusal to say something that is later relied on in court,
and a requirement that convicted terrorists have to give the police
personal information. It will enable convicted terrorists to be banned
from travelling overseas; enhance sentences
for those convicted of terrorist related
offences; put the police counter terrorist DNA database on a "sound
statutory footing" and make other changes to enable the full use of DNA in
terrorist cases. The
Government will also review the use of intercept material in prosecutions.
The Bill would apply throughout the UK.
5. Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
Likely to be carried over from 2006-07 session, this Bill (announced
in June and said to be
the 55th of its kind
since Labour came to power) primarily
relates to the criminal justice system in
England
and Wales. However, it also contains a new special immigration status for
terrorists and serious criminals who cannot currently be removed from the
UK for legal reasons; this, and
some other reserved and excepted provisions, also extend to
Scotland and Northern Ireland.
6. Employment Simplification Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to "simplify, clarify and build a stronger
enforcement regime" for key aspects of employment law. It will also
introduce a new system for enforcing the minimum wage and resolving
workplace disputes. It aims to improve standards in employment agencies as
well.
The Bill would apply to Great Britain.
7. Energy Bill
The aim of this Bill is "to help the UK ensure secure supplies of energy,
to tackle climate change and target fuel poverty measures more
effectively". It will encourage diverse supplies of electricity, regulate
for carbon capture storage, and require any private companies involved in
building or running new nuclear power stations to set aside money for
their decommissioning and waste management costs.
It will also make it easier for private firms to invest in offshore gas
supply infrastructure. A major element of the Bill is to "help energy
supply companies to better target their efforts to reduce fuel poverty".
The Bill will contain a mixture of devolved and reserved matters.
8. European Communities (Finance) Bill
This Bill will put recent agreements on European Union
budget contributions into law, by amending the European Communities Act
1972 (it will allow the UK to make payments directly to the annual EU
budget from the Government's own bank account, the Consolidated Fund). The
Bill would apply to the whole of the UK.
9. Health and Social Care Bill
The Bill would create
a new integrated regulator -
Ofcare - for health and adult social care, bringing together existing
health and social care regulators into one regulatory body (a 2006 budget
commitment). Providers of health services and adult social care will have
to be registered. This is part of the Government’s response to the Shipman
Inquiry to reform
professional regulation in order to strengthen clinical governance. The
Bill will also include provisions to make a one-off payment to all
expectant mothers from the 29th week of pregnancy. The Bill would apply
throughout the UK, although the extent of the measures will differ for
each policy area.
10. Human Tissue and Embryos Bill
Appearing as a draft Bill in the 2006-07 Session (a joint committee of
both Houses of Parliament published a report on it in August - see our
Update 907), this
Bill will ensure
that the production and use of all human embryos outside the body –
whatever the process used in their creation – are subject to regulation.
It will continue the ban on
selecting the sex of offspring for non-medical reasons,
plus rules on the screening and selection of embryos to avoid inherited
diseases.
The duty to take account of "the welfare of the child" is extended
when providing fertility treatment, but reference to "the
need for a father" will be removed;
same-sex couples will be recognised as legal parents of children conceived
through the use of donated sperm, eggs or embryos. It will also include
provisions to increase the scope of legitimate embryo
research activities, including "clarification" of the regulation of
"inter-species embryos" – those combining human and animal genetic
material. The Bill will
replace the Human Fertilisation &
Embryology Authority and the Human Tissue Authority with the Regulatory
Authority for Tissue & Embryos (RATE).
The Bill would apply to the whole United Kingdom for assisted reproduction
and embryo research, but only to England, Wales and Northern Ireland for
other human tissues and cells research.
11. Local Transport Bill
Another draft bill in the 2006-07 session, this
Bill seeks to tackle road congestion and improve public transport by
ensuring local authorities have powers to take action to meet local
transport needs. The Bill will also introduce freedom for local
authorities to develop road pricing schemes, although separate legislation
would be required if, in the future, a decision was made to introduce a
national road pricing scheme. The
Bill
mostly applies to England and
Wales
only, but some minor reserved provisions also extend to Scotland.
12. National Insurance Contributions Bill
In the March 2007 Budget, Gordon Brown announced a package
of measures to modernise the tax and benefit system. One of these was to
harmonise the Upper Earnings Limit (UEL) for national insurance
contributions with the higher rate income tax threshold. The UEL will rise
in phases, to match the higher rate income tax threshold by April 2009.
This Bill will bring that measure into effect; it would apply to the whole
UK.
13. Pensions Bill
The Bill will enact the remaining provisions of the pensions reform
package set out in a White Paper from May 2006, including the automatic
enrolling of individuals into personal pension accounts. It aims to give
low to moderate earners an opportunity to save for their retirement, and
will also include
powers to
introduce mandatory employer contributions into a qualifying pension
scheme. The Pensions Bill currently in Parliament introduces a Personal
Accounts Delivery Authority to act in an advisory capacity; this Bill will
introduce the powers needed to establish the system. The Bill would apply
throughout Great Britain.
14. Planning Reform Bill
This Bill is designed to
streamline and improve planning
and will: introduce a single consents regime for major infrastructure
projects; establish an independent infrastructure planning commission; and
create a
statutory requirement for developers to consult affected people and
communities before submitting applications. The Bill would apply mainly to
England and Wales, but include some UK-wide measures.
15. Planning Gain Supplement Bill
This Bill would create a new tax (the Planning Gain
Supplement) on the increased value created when land is granted planning
permission – the tax would then be spent on local and regional
infrastructure. However, Gordon Brown told MPs:it would "ensure the public
receive benefit from planning gain" but it is provisional because "if,
prior to the Pre-Budget Report, a better way is identified of ensuring
local communities receive significantly more of the benefit planning gain
to invest in necessary infrastructure including transport – and it is
demonstrated that these are a better alternative – the Government will be
prepared to defer next session’s legislation". PGS would be a national tax
applying across the UK, but PGS revenues generated in the Devolved
Administrations would be returned to the country in which they were
generated and the use of PGS funds would be determined by the relevant
administration.
16. Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill
This Bill was published in draft on 15 May, with consultation closing on
15 August; the Government's response (published in September) remains
"committed to the vision set out in the Macrory Report of a modernised
system of regulatory sanctions that are proportionate, flexible and
effective". The Bill will establish the
Local Better Regulation Office as a statutory corporation which will aim
to "cut unnecessary burdens imposed on business by local authority
regulatory services (such as trading standards, the Environment Agency)",
to provide consistency. The
LBRO provisions will apply to England and Wales only, but some provisions
in Part 2 also include Scotland and Northern Ireland, though they are of
restricted application in respect of devolved matters.
17. Unclaimed Assets Bill
The Bill will allow banks to transfer unclaimed assets in the banking
system to charities and the voluntary sector in order to be reinvested
into communities. The rights of owners to reclaim their assets will be
protected. The legislation will cover bank and building society accounts
where there has been no customer-initiated activity for 15 years.
The Bill would apply throughout the UK, but the devolved administrations
will decide their own spending priorities.
If
you have any comments on the draft programme or individual bills being
proposed, you can email them to:
legislation@commonsleader.x.gsi.gov.uk
