Conventions of the UK Parliament: first report of session 2005-06: Vol. 1 Report, together with formal minutes Reprinted January 2007

House of Lords papers 265-I 2005-06. House of Commons papers 1212-I 2005-06

Author:: Lord Cunningham of Felling (chairman)
Publisher:: TSO (The Stationery Office)

Conventions of the UK Parliament: first

The Joint Committee on Conventions, was established in May 2006 to consider the practicality of codifying the key conventions on the relationship between the two House of Parliament which affect the consideration of legislation. Four areas were examined: the Salisbury-Addision Convention; secondary legislation; the convention that the Lords consider government business in reasonable time; exchange amendments between the Houses. Also the Committee considered the House of Commons financial privilege. The background to this particular report is the continuing debate on the reform of the House of Lords. The role of the House of Lords is to examine legislation put forward by the Commons, and it traditionally acts as a revising chamber, scrutinising and proposing amendments. The Committee is persuaded that the Salisbury-Addison Convention has changed since its inception in 1945, with the manifesto Bills now introduced in both Houses so the Convention should reflect this, and adopt the new name of the Government Bill Convention. With secondary legislation or statutory instruments, the Committee believes that the House of Lords should not regularly reject them because they disagree with their implementation, but the Lords should maintain their role of scrutiny and revision where appropriate. The Committee noted there is no conventional definition of reasonable, but recommends that scrutiny of particular bills should not go beyond 80 days, approximately half an average session. There is also scope for better planning of the parliamentary year as a whole, with more pre-legislative scrutiny. Time problems could be resolved by balancing out the Parlimentary workload between the two Houses. The Committee does not recommend legislation or any form of codification which turns conventions into rules, removing flexibility. Futher that the courts have no role in adjudicating on possible breaches of parliamentary convention.

Extent	121p.	ISBN	9780104009505
Size	N/A	Price	£15.50
Binding	Paperback	Published	03 Nov 2006
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