Question

To ask the Leader of the House, further to the request made to the Leader by Lord Blencathra on 12 January (HL Deb col 1535), whether he will (1) send a printed copy of the Cabinet Office Guide to Making Legislation to every civil servant in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel with an instruction to read it, and (2) amend section E of the Guide which begins with the sentence “The House of Lords is usually the more difficult House to take legislation through…”.

On instruction from the relevant policy department, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel are responsible for the drafting of Government legislation.

In light of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee's report Democracy Denied? The urgent need to rebalance power between Parliament and the Executive (HL 106), the Guide to Making Legislation was updated last summer. This included integrating a link to the Committee's revised guidance. Along with the Committee's report and the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee's report Government by Diktat: A call to return power to Parliament (HL 105), the guide was circulated to all officials in Whitehall responsible for preparing and passing primary legislation.

The Guide to Making Legislation is usually updated annually and I have asked the responsible officials to consider how to best express in the Guide the different procedures, practices and challenges posed by legislating in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. I hope very much that in that process officials will take carefully into account points made by Your Lordships in what was an important debate.