Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010

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This Bill was first introduced in the 2008-09 Session.

Main benefits

To continue the government's programme of constitutional reform, increasing the accountability and transparency of parliament and government.

Main elements

• Place the civil service and civil service commissioners on a statutory footing, enshrining the civil service's core values in statute.

• Create a statutory basis for the parliamentary scrutiny of treaties, prior to their ratification.

• End the by-election of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords.

• Provide for the disqualification of peers convicted of a serious criminal offence or who are subject to a bankruptcy restriction order.

• Provide a power for the House of Lords to expel or suspend a member, including the withholding of a writ of summons.

• Allow peers to resign and disclaim their peerage.

• Repeal legislation that limits protests around parliament and replace it with a regime to guarantee access to parliament.

• Introduce a one-year time limit within which legal proceedings can be brought under the devolution Acts where it is alleged that there has been a breach of convention rights by members of the devolved administrations.

• Remove the prime minister from the process of appointments of the president, deputy president and judges of the Supreme Court.

• Create a new corporate structure for the National Audit Office.

• Provide for the inclusion of the spending of non-departmental public bodies, and other central government bodies, in the Estimates and Accounts of the responsible government department.

• The government is currently preparing a draft House of Commons resolution setting out the processes for the House to follow in order to approve any deployment of the armed forces in armed conflicts overseas.
  
  

Dods commentary

This Bill aims to "rebuild trust in our democratic and constitutional settlement by ensuring openness, transparency, and accountability".

Many of the Bill’s proposals stem from the green paper 'Governance of Britain' published on July 3 2007.

The green paper set out proposals to "invigorate our democracy"; clarify the role of central and local government; and rebalance power between parliament and the government, and give parliament more ability to hold the government to account.

The draft Constitutional Renewal Bill was published by the government in July 2008 and received pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill.

Other committees in parliament that have scrutinised provisions in the Bill - justice committee and public administration committee – held inquiries relating to provisions relating to the Attorney General and the civil service respectively.

Additional provisions added to the Bill following scrutiny include the conduct and discipline in the House of Lords; national audit of non-departmental bodies and transparency of government financial reporting to parliament.

The Ministry of Justice published a white paper on constitutional renewal entitled 'The Governance of Britain - Constitutional Renewal' which set out the government’s proposals to reform constitutional arrangements by limiting the government's power.

The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill would remove all hereditary peers from the Lords and allow peers to be disqualified if they commit a serious criminal offence.

The Bill would also remove the prime minister from judicial appointments and allow peers to resign their seats in the Lords, paving the way for any return to the Commons by Lord Mandelson.

Other provisions contained in the Bill surround the standardisation of accounting procedures for non-departmental public bodies and the creation of a new corporate structure for the National Audit Office.

Justice secretary Jack Straw speaking at the second reading of the Bill said "this bill marks a further phase in that process of renewing our constitutional arrangements, with the aim of making government more open and accountable, and representative institutions such as Parliament more responsive to the public they exist to serve."

Speaking on the Bill in the House of Commons, David Cameron said: "The country is too centralised. Parliament is too weak. And the government is too top-down, too secretive and too unwilling to give up power.

"Above all, isn't the real problem that people feel shut out of decision making, unable to control the things that matter to them?"

In July 2009, Jonathan Baume, general secretary of the FDA – the union for senior managers and professionals in the Civil Service – welcomed the Bill, saying "for many years the FDA has been part of an alliance - together with the Public Administration Select Committee, the Civil Service Commission and others - that has argued for a Civil Service Act".

Chairman of the Commons justice committee, Sir Alan Beith commenting on the committee's scrutiny of the Bill, said: "The Justice Committee has looked at a range of proposals for constitutional reform and renewal over the last few years - some of these have made their way into this bill but many have not, such as reform of the dual role of the Attorney General as government minister as well as independent legal adviser".

The Bill was subject to a carry-over motion and was reintroduced in the 2009-10 Session. It recieved its second reading in the House of Commons on 19 November and is currently in committee.

Progress

House of Commons
2008-09 Session:
1st reading: 20 July 20 2009 [HC Bill 142]
2nd reading: 20 October 2009
Committee stage:

• 1st sitting: 3 November 2009
• 2nd sitting: 4 November 2009

2009-10 Session:
1st reading: 19 November 2009
2nd reading: 19 November 2009
Committee stage:

• 1st sitting: 19 January 2010
• 2nd sitting: 26 January 2010
• 3rd sitting: 1 February 2010
• 4th sitting: 9 February 2010

Report stage: 2 March 2010
3rd reading: 2 March 2010

House of Lords

1st reading: 3 March 2010
2nd reading: 24 March 2010
Committee stage: 7 April 2010
Report stage: 7 April 2010
3rd reading: 7 April 2010

Ping Pong: 8 April 2010
Royal Assent: 8 April 2010