Thursday 2nd February 2012 | 20:00

Lord Butler: Making bills better

Instead of hours spent amending poorly drafted legislation, Lord Butler suggests a way in which bills might be prepared to better standards in the first place

 

 

It seems to be a truth, universally acknowledged, that British governments produce too much, too poor quality legislation. The Lords are currently swamped by scrutinising and amending this session’s legislation, while the Commons are sitting on their hands. It is reported that the prime minister has told his cabinet that the next session should contain fewer and better laws.

This is not a new complaint. Successive governments have been subject to the same criticism. It seems to be a besetting sin of British government that bills are introduced in a hurry; they are heavily amended and added to; and they emerge in a very different form from that in which they started. They are then frequently amended in succeeding sessions or not brought into effect at all. According to an answer to a Parliamentary Question I received this week, the whole or part of 77 Acts passed by 15 Departments in the 2005-10 Parliament have never been brought into force; and that does not include legislation subsequently repealed.

Why does this happen? And can Parliament help to prevent it?
It happens because departments always have a waiting list of ‘reforms’ for which they want a place in the legislative programme. It is a competence test for each secretary of state to obtain such places. In the cabinet shoot-out, despite everyone’s best intentions, the programme becomes too full, and drafting resources are over-stretched as departments race to get their bills ready in time.

It is not that anyone wants this to happen. Governments do not want to introduce poor legislation, let alone pass it. The business managers and the law officers do their best within the government to restrain their colleagues and insist on good standards. Nevertheless, year after year, it does happen.

Can Parliament do anything to help? Recently the Leader’s Group on Working Practices in the Lords, following reports from the Hansard Society and the Better Government Initiative, recommended that, when bills are introduced, a legislative standards committee should report on whether the preparation of the bills has met proper standards. Has the government explained what the legislation is meant to achieve and why legislation is necessary? Has there been pre-legislative scrutiny and consultation, and, if not, why not? What is the estimated cost of implementing the bill? What is its relationship to existing legislation? The purpose of the committee would be to carry out a check-list on information presented to Parliament about these preparatory steps: it would not be concerned with the content of the bill.

Such a procedure could be carried out by each House for the bills starting in its own House. Even better, it could be done by the two Houses in cooperation. The Leaders’ Group on Lords Working Practices has recommended it for the Lords; and the Commons liaison committee has asked the Commons political and constitutional reform committee to consider its application there. If such a gateway for legislation was introduced, I believe that its very existence would improve preparation in government and that is surely a proper role for Parliament.

Lord Butler of Brockwell was a member of the Leader’s Group on Working Practices in the House of Lords and is on the executive committee of the Better Government Initiative