Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on pre-legislative consultation.

The Government is committed to engaging with the public and other interested parties as policies are developed through formal and informal consultation. Where possible the Government is keen to facilitate formal pre-legislative scrutiny of draft legislation. A revised set of consultation principles was published in 2016 to give clear guidance to Government Departments on consultations. A copy of these principles can be found in the attached document.

Three draft bills have already been published this session: the Draft Health Service Safety Investigations Bill, the Draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariffs Cap) Bill and draft legislation on the Personal Injury Discount Rate. These draft bills are available for select committees to scrutinise as they see fit.

At the State Opening of Parliament on 21 June 2017, the Government announced two further bills would be published in draft this session: the draft Tenants’ Fees Bill and draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill. These will be published in due course. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently announced their intention to publish draft legislation on animal cruelty sentencing. Tax legislation is regularly published draft for technical consultations.