Lord Falconer will attempt to overhaul the judicial system with a range of legislation.

The constitutional affairs secretary will press on with last session's controversial Constitutional Reform Bill, which will abolish the post of lord chancellor and create a new supreme court.

There will be reforms to the legal aid system with a new Criminal Defence Service Bill.

It is hoped the measure will  provide "value for money for the taxpayer", with estimated savings of £35 million a year.

Means tests will be reintroduced for criminal cases in magistrates courts, with safeguards to reflect capacity to pay.

And in the week that the long running Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday has again hit the headlines, a new Inquiries Bill will overhaul the system for holding public inquires.

The aim is to make the reviews quicker and fairer for witnesses, reducing costs in the process.

Judicial pensions

Amid reports of Cabinet rifts, a Judicial Pensions Bill has been given the green light.

The bill will maintain the current value of judges' pensions, exempting them from changes being introduced for everyone else as part of this year's Finance Act.

It is thought that several senior ministers objected to giving judges a more favourable settlement than other workers.

Elsewhere, the Mental Capacity Bill, carried over from the last session, sets out a statutory framework for protecting the interests of people who might lack capacity to make their own decisions through mental illness or disability.

And a draft Courts and Tribunals Bill will detail plans to clarify the law regulating bailiffs and simplify the tribunals system.