The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill was introduced in the last Session and has been carried over into this Session. It received a Second Reading and consideration for two days in Committee of the Whole House in the previous Session.

The Bill would give effect to a number of the reforms proposed in the Governance of Britain Green Paper published in July 2007.  A draft Bill was published for scrutiny in March 2008.  It was considered by a Joint Committee of both Houses, together with the Justice Committee and the Public Administration Select Committee in the House of Commons.

The purpose of the Bill is to:

• Rebalance the relationship between Parliament, the Government and the public. It aims to rebuild trust in our democratic and constitutional settlement by reinforcing the principles of transparency, accountability and probity across government.

The main benefits of the Bill would be:

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

The main elements of the Bill are to:

• 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 processes for the House to follow in order to approve any deployment of the Armed Forces in armed conflicts overseas.

Related documents:

• Governance of Britain green paper (Jul 2007)

• Analysis of Governance of Britain consultations (Mar 2008)

• Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill (Mar 2008)

• Joint Committee Report on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill (Jul 2008)

• Government response to Joint Committee Report on Draft Constitution Renewal Bill (Jul 2009)

• Justice Committee Report on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill (Jun 2008)

• Government response to Justice Committee Report (Jul 2009)

• Public Administration Select Committee Report on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill (May 2008)

• Government Response to the Public Administration Select Committee Report (Jul 2009)

o Part 1 (Civil Service) Draft Civil Service Bill (Nov 2004):
o Part 2 (Ratification of Treaties) Governance of Britain - War Powers and Treaties: Limiting Executive Powers (Oct 2007):
o Part 3 (The House of Lords) An Elected Second Chamber (Jul 2008):
o Part 4 (Public Order) Managing Protest around Parliament (Oct 2007):
o Part 6 (Courts and Tribunals) Judicial Appointments (Oct 2007):
o Part 7 (National Audit Office) Public Accounts Commission Report (Jul 2008):
o Part 8: (Transparency of Government Financial Reporting to Parliament) The Alignment Project (Mar 2009):

Devolution:

The provisions of the Bill generally extend to the United Kingdom.