Summary of Bills Proposed

The Queen’s Speech for the 2010/11 session of Parliament contains proposals for the Coalition Government's legislative programme for the next 18 months with at least 22 new bills (plus Finance Bill not mentioned in the speech).  One other Bill will be introduced in draft.  The theme of the programme is “freedom, fairness & responsibility” with the priority to “reduce the deficit & restore economic growth.”

Other announcements (but not requiring legislation):

• confirmation of full Strategic Defence & Security Review
•  confirmation of establishment of an independent Commission on Long-Term Care
• establishment of Committee to provide specific recommendations on House of Lords reform “by the end of the year”
• action on reform of funding of political parties
• 0.7% of gross national income to be spent on development aid from 2013
• Royal Visits to Canada (June) and UN in New York (July)
• Papal visit to UK (September)

ACADEMIES BILL (DfE)

Purpose:

• Enable more schools to become Academies and give them the freedoms and flexibilities they need to continue to drive up standards.

Details

• Provide schools with the freedoms to deliver an excellent education in the way they see fit, within a broad framework where they are clearly accountable for the outcomes they deliver.
• Enable all maintained schools to apply to become an Academy with schools judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted being pre-approved.
• Primary and special schools would be able to apply to become an Academy in their own right for the first time and will benefit from the increased freedoms and flexibilities that this will offer.
• Make the process of applying to become an Academy as simple as possible without a requirement for Local Authorities to be consulted.
• It is expected that standards across the education sector to will through the creation of more Academies. A significant number are expected to open in September and to continue to grow each year.
•  Academies would be funded at a comparable level to maintained schools.
• There would be no expansion of selection but grammar schools and other schools which select or partially select pupils will be able to continue to do so.
• The Bill would automatically make all new Academies charities.

The Bill would apply almost exclusively to England and Wales.

AIRPORTS ECONOMIC REGULATION BILL (DfT)

Purpose:

• Having ruled out new runways in the South East, we will engage with all stakeholders in the sector to develop a new vision for a competitive aviation industry, supporting UK economic growth and designed within the constraint of the existing runway infrastructure. This Bill will reform the framework for the economic regulation of airports to benefit passengers and drive investment in airport facilities.

Details:

• Replace the existing system for setting price caps at airports which are subject to economic regulation with a more flexible framework focused on the outcomes that matter to passengers.
• Ministers are considering the detailed content of these reforms and will say more in due course.

The Bill will apply to England, Scotland and Wales. Discussions will take place with Northern Ireland as to whether to adopt these reforms.

ARMED FORCES BILL (MOD)

Purpose:

• Provide the legal basis for our Armed Forces.

Details:

• Renewal of the legislation.
• Changes to Court Martial powers.
• Provisions relating to Service personnel policy
• Service police matters, including provisions for strengthening the independence of Service police investigations
• A number of provisions for other defence matters.

DECENTRALISATION & LOCALISM BILL (DCLG)

Purpose:

• The Bill would devolve greater powers to councils and neighbourhoods and give local communities control over housing and planning decisions.

Details:

• Abolish Regional Spatial Strategies.
• Return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils.
• Abolish the Infrastructure Planning Commission and replace it with an efficient and democratically accountable system that provides a fast-track process for major infrastructure projects.
• New powers to help save local facilities and services threatened with closure, and give communities the right to bid to take over local state-run services.
• Abolish the Standards Board regime.
• Give councils a general power of competence.
• Require public bodies to publish online the job titles of every member of staff and the salaries and expenses of senior officials.
• Give residents the power to instigate local referendums on any local issue and the power to veto excessive council tax increases.
• Greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups.
• Create Local Enterprise Partnerships (to replace Regional Development Agencies) —joint local authority-business bodies brought forward by local authorities to promote local economic development.
• Form plans to deliver a genuine and lasting Olympic legacy.
• Outright abolition of Home Improvement Packs.
• Create new trusts that would make it simpler for communities to provide homes for local people.
• Review Housing Revenue Account.

The Bill applies to England and Wales. Although it is not anticipated this Bill would apply to Scotland, the wide scope of this Bill means the possibility of devolution implications cannot be ruled out at this time.

ENERGY BILL (DECC)

Purpose:

• Provide a step change in the provision of energy efficiency measures to homes and businesses.
• Put in place a framework to deliver a future with secure, low carbon energy supplies and fair competition in the energy markets.

Details:

• Implementation of a “Green deal” to deliver energy efficiency to homes and business – delivering a framework including potential incentives to energy suppliers and households that will transform the provision of energy efficiency in the UK by enabling a ‘pay as you save’ approach.
• Bill may contain measures to:

-          regulate the carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations;

-          reform energy markets to deliver security of supply and ensure fair competition;

-          put in place a framework to guide the development of a smart grid that would manage supply and demand for electricity;

-          require energy companies to provide more information on energy bills in order to empower consumers and to ensure fair access to energy supplies;

-          ensure that North Sea infrastructure would be available to all companies to ease the exploitation of smaller and more difficult oil and gas fields; and

-          create a Green Investment Bank to support investment in low carbon projects to transform the economy.

The majority of measures likely to be included in this Bill would extend to England, Wales and Scotland. Some of the measures may have devolved aspects, depending on the final detail.

EQUITABLE LIFE BILL (HM Treasury)

Purpose:

• Give HM Treasury statutory authority to incur expenditure in making payments to Equitable Life policyholders.

Details:

• Give HM Treasury statutory authority to incur expenditure in making payments to Equitable Life policyholders.

All provisions in the Bill are reserved.

EUROPEAN UNION BILL (FCO)

Purpose:

• Increase democratic and parliamentary control, scrutiny and accountability over EU decision-making. To make sure the people and their representatives to have more say. To increase the democratic accountability of the EU.
• The Government believes that Britain should play a strong and positive role in an enlarged European Union, but that no further powers should be transferred from the UK to Brussels without a referendum. This approach strikes the right balance between constructive engagement with the EU to deal with the issues that affect us all, and protecting our national sovereignty.

Details:

• Amendment of the European Communities Act 1972 to ensure that any proposed future EU Treaty, or amendment to the Treaties, and major ratchet clauses that transfer competences or areas of power from the UK to the EU would be subject to a referendum.
• Amendment of the European Communities Act 1972 to ensure that an Act of Parliament would he required before a ‘ratchet clause’ (passerelle) could be used.
• Ratification of a Protocol to amend the EU Treaties on measures to adjust the size of the UK and 11 other Member States’ delegations in the European Parliament during the current EP Parliamentary term, rather than waiting for the next European Parliamentary elections in 2014.
• The Government will examine the case for a United Kingdom Sovereignty Bill, to make it clear that ultimate authority stays in this country.

The Bill will extend to the whole of the UK.

FINANCIAL REFORM BILL (HM Treasury)

Purpose:

• The Bill would give the Bank of England control of macro-prudential regulation and oversight of micro-prudential regulation.

Details:

• Reforming the regulatory framework so that the Bank of England is responsible for macro-prudential regulation, and has oversight of micro-prudential regulation.

The Bill will extend to whole of the UK.

FREEDOM (GREAT REPEAL) BILL (Home Office)

Purpose:

• Roll back the state, reducing the weight of government imposition on citizens that has increased in recent years through legislation and centralised programmes.

Details:

• Increasing the protection for those on the DNA database by adopting the Scottish model.
• Restoring the rights to non-violent protest.
• Introducing safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.
• Regulating the use of CCTV.
• Ending the storage of internet and email records without good reason.

The storage of DNA samples is a power devolved to the Scottish Assembly. The Bill would adopt the Scottish model.

HEALTH BILL (DoH)

Confirmation that the Health Secretary will set out his vision for the healthcare system “over the coming weeks”, which would lead to a Bill “in this session” to implement the proposals

IDENTITY DOCUMENTS BILL (Home Office)

Purpose:

• To cancel identity cards and to destroy the National Identity Register which contains personal data collected to issue cards.

Details:

• The cancellation of all ID cards within one month of Royal Assent.
• Removal of the statutory requirement to issue ID Cards on Royal Assent.
• Cancellation of the National Identity Register.
• Destruction of all data held on the Register within one month of Royal Assent.
• Closing the Office of the Identity Commissioner.
• Re-enactment of certain necessary provisions of the 2006 Act including some criminal offences (possession or use of false identity documents) that are commonly used for identity documents other ID cards.
• No refunds to existing cardholders.

The Bill will extend to the whole of the UK.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL (DCLG)

Purpose:

• Revoke structural change orders that established Exeter and Norwich as Unitary Councils from 1 April 2010 and prevents the implementation of the Suffolk unitary proposals that remain outstanding.

Details:

• To prevent any further orders to be made implementing unitary proposals received before the Bill’s commencement date.
• To revoke the orders that create from 1 April 2011 unitary councils for the cities of Exeter and Norwich.
• Where any councillor’s term of office has been extended by one year by any order, the Bill would allow such extension to continue. This avoids by­-elections on the revocation of the orders with the associated costs that would arise.

This Bill applies to England and Wales only.

NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS BILL (HM Treasury)

Purpose:

• Increase rates of National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from April 2011 and possibly make further changes that promote enterprise and fairness.
•  Further changes that may, or may not, be included are based on the following commitments made by the Coalition:
•  “We will make it easier for people to set up new enterprises” and
•  “We will make every effort to tackle tax avoidance, including detailed development of Liberal Democrat proposals.”

Details:

• Increases to the rates of NICs from 6 April 2011:
• Main rate of Class I and Class 4 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) would be increased by 1 per cent to 12 per cent and 9 per cent respectively;
• Class 1 employer rate of NlCs would be increased by 1 per cent to 13.8 per cent and will also apply to Class 1A and Class 1B NICs; &
• Additional rate of Class 1 and 4 NlCs would be increased by 1 per cent to 2 per cent.

The Bill will extend to the whole of the UK.

OFFICE FOR BUDGET RESPONSIBILITY BILL (HM Treasury)

Purpose:

• Establish an Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
• A three person Budget Responsibility Committee, chaired by Sir Alan Budd, heads the OBR. It will operate on an interim basis for the first Budget, supported by a civil service secretariat.
• The interim body will publish forecasts in advance of the emergency Budget and will also assess the long-term sustainability of the public finances and the public sector balance sheet.
• A Bill would provide a statutory underpinning for the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Details:

• No elements of legislation have been decided upon.

Fiscal policy is a reserved matter.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM BILL (MoJ)

The Government has set out an ambitious programme of reforms to transform politics and redistribute power away from the centre, including:

• Measures to introduce fixed term Parliaments for five years.
• A Bill will be introduced for a referendum on the Alternative Vote system for the House of Commons and to create fewer and more equal sized constituencies.
• Constituents will be given the right to recall their Members of Parliament where they are guilty of serious wrongdoing.”

Any legislation will apply to the UK. All proposals are reserved in all three of the devolution settlements.

PENSIONS & SAVINGS BILL (DWP)

Purpose:

·         Implement the findings of the review of the current timetable for increasing the State Pension age, if the review finds that the existing timetable is no longer appropriate.

Details:

·         Depending on the outcome of the review, the Bill would amend existing legislation to implement a revised timetable for increasing the State Pension age.

The Bill will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.

POLICE REFORM & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY BILL (Home Office)

Purpose:

• Make the police service more accountable to local people, create a dedicated Border Police Force and set out measures to tackle alcohol-related violence and disorder.

Details:

• Directly elected individuals to hold the police to account. They would ensure that local policing activities meet the needs of the local community, help build confidence in the system and bring communities and the police together.
• Amended health and safety laws that do not stand in the way of ‘common sense’ policing.
• Dedicated Border Police Force, as part of a refocused Serious Organised Crime Agency, to enhance national security, improve immigration controls, and crack down on the trafficking of people, weapons and drugs.
• Strengthened relations to deal with serious crime and extended collaboration between forces to deliver better value for money.
• Overhaul of the Licensing Act to give local authorities and the police much stronger powers to remove licenses from, or refuse to grant licenses to, any premises that are causing problems. Banning the sale of alcohol below cost price. Also allowing local councils to charge more for late-night licenses to pay for additional policing, giving them powers to shut down shops or bars persistently selling to children and doubling the maximum fine for selling to children to £20,000.

Border Police Force to be confirmed. Other provisions apply to England and Wales only.

POSTAL SERVICES BILL (BIS)

Purpose:

• The Bill seeks to tackle the fundamental and longstanding problems facing Royal Mail. The Bill would enable an injection of private capital, along with other measures, to help Royal Mail and ensure the provision of the universal postal service.

Details:

• Enabling the disposal of shares in the Royal Mail to third parties that could raise equity for reinvestment in the business.
• Recognising the important social and economic role played by post offices in communities throughout the UK. Post Office Limited will therefore remain in public ownership.
• Measures to resolve the problems surrounding Royal Mail’s pension deficit.
• Potential changes to the regulatory framework for postal services
• Exploring options for employee engagement at Royal Mail, to enable management and the workforce to work together to meet Royal Mail’s significant challenges and enable all to share in its future success.

The Bill will extend to the whole of the UK.

PUBLIC BODIES (REFORM) BIILL (Cabinet Office)

Purpose:

• Ensure that there will be a greater degree of transparency and accountability for all Public Bodies (‘quangos’); and provide Ministers with the powers to abolish, merge or transfer functions.

Details:

• Ensuring greater accountability, transparency and efficiency in Government by reducing the number and cost of public bodies (quangos).
• Give ministers the powers to abolish, merge or transfer quangos back into Departments. As at 31 March 2009, there were 766 non-departmental public bodies. They spend over £46 billion a year and employ over 110,000 people.
• To review the functions of all public bodies every three years, as opposed to the current practice of every 5 years. The review will comprise a test: ‘Is the function technical; does it need to be politically impartial; and do facts need to be determined transparently?’

The Bill applies to England and Wales.

SCOTLAND BILL (Scotland Office)

Purpose:

• The Bill would implement recommendations of the Final Report of the Commission on Scottish Devolution (the Calman Commission).

Details:

• These will be made clear in due course.
• The issues addressed in this Bill concern the devolution of various powers to the Scottish Parliament.

TERRORIST ASSET-FREEZING BILL (HM Treasury)

Purpose:

• Put the UK’s terrorist asset freezing regime on a secure legislative footing. Following a Supreme Court decision earlier this year quashing secondary legislation used to implement terrorist asset freezes, Parliament passed temporary legislation to maintain the UK’s terrorist asset freezing regime. This legislation expires on 31 December 2010.

Details:

• Bill will set out the framework for effectively implementing asset freezing in the UK, as required by the United Nations, and put the regime on a secure legislative footing, ensuring that terrorist assets remain frozen.
• Set out the legal test for freezing assets, the process for making decisions, the scope of the prohibitions, exemptions provisions, criminal offences and appeal mechanisms.

The Bill will extend to the whole of the UK.

WELFARE REFORM BILL (DWP)

Purpose:

• Simplify the benefits system in order to improve work incentives.

Details:

• Removing the confusing complexity of the benefits system, which too often leaves people afraid to make any change to their circumstances and can be a barrier to moving from benefits to work.
• Making people see a gain when entering work through simplifying the benefits system.
• Reducing the scope for fraud and error by making the benefits system simpler.
• Reducing unnecessary administration of benefits. Currently people can have overlapping entitlements or switch between different benefits – around 200,000 people a year cycle between Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Incapacity Benefit (IB) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

The Bill will apply to England, Scotland and Wales.

Bills to be introduced in draft

PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE BILL (MoJ)

Purpose:

•  Reform the law on parliamentary privilege to clarify its extent and application.

Details:

• Draft Bill will build on a report by a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament in 1999 which indentified problems and made recommendation on how parliamentary privilege should be reformed.
• Bill would define the extent of parliamentary privilege whilst still ensuring that it still protects freedom of speech within Parliament.
• By clarifying the extent of parliamentary privilege, this would ensure a common understanding of the scope of privilege.
• The Government will be publishing a draft Bill in the course of this session.

Draft Bill will apply to the whole of the UK.

Bills not mentioned in the Speech

FINANCE BILL (HM Treasury)

A bill will obviously be introduced following the Budget due on Tuesday 22 June.

“Other measures will be laid before you” – usual catch-all phrase to allow introduction of other bills as required: no detail given