Pre-Legislative Scrutiny
5.This policy was the subject of a public consultation document published by the Cabinet Office on 2 March 1999. Both the Lords Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee and the Commons Deregulation Committee reported on the proposals in their 14th and First Special Reports of the 1998-99 Session respectively (HL 55 and HC 324). The Government’s formal responses to the two Committees’ reports were also published in the Lords Committee’s 28th Report of the 1998-99 Session (HL 111) and the Commons’ Committee’s First Special Report of the 1999-00 Session (HC 177).
6.The Cabinet Office published a consultation paper on replacing the enforcement provisions in the 1994 Act on 28 September 1999. The Lords Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee commented briefly on the proposal in its 28th Report of 1998-99 (HL 111).
7.Both Committees scrutinised the draft Bill following its publication in a Command Paper (Cm 4713) in April 2000. Evidence was taken from Cabinet Office Ministers, Lord Falconer and Graham Stringer. The Lords Committee reported on the draft Bill in its 15th, 24th and 37th Reports of the 1999-2000 session (HL 61, 86 and 130), and the Commons Committee in its Second and Third Special Reports of the 1999-2000 Session (HC 488 and 705). No change was made to the Bill following its publication in draft and prior to its introduction in the House of Lords on 7 December 2000. The Lords Committee then reported on the Bill’s proposals for delegated legislation in its 2nd Report (HL 8) of the 2000/01 Session.
8.The Lords Committee also reported on the amendments made to the Bill by the House of Lords in its 10th Report (HL 38).While the Bill was before the Commons, the Commons Deregulation Committee reported on it in its 1st Special Report (HC 328) of the 2000/01 Session, in which it also set out its proposals for amending the relevant standing orders (see Annex A). Finally, the Lords Committee set out its recommendations for changes to standing orders in its 26th Report (HL 83).