Former Senior Clerks and Parliamentary Counsel discuss the Legislative Process
11 June 2018
The Constitution Committee hears evidence from former Clerk of the Parliaments Sir David Beamish, former Clerk of the House of Commons Lord Lisvane, and former Parliamentary Counsel Daniel Greenberg as part of their inquiry on the legislative process.
- Parliament TV: The Legislative Process
- Inquiry: The Legislative Process
- Select Committee on the Constitution
Witnesses
Wednesday 13 June in Committee Room 1, Palace of Westminster
At 10.30am
- Sir David Beamish, former Clerk of the Parliaments
- Lord Lisvane, former Clerk of the House of Commons
At 11.15am
- Daniel Greenberg, former Parliamentary Counsel
Possible questions
- How effective is Parliament's scrutiny of bills? What are the strengths and weaknesses of our scrutiny processes? The evidence we received suggests the Government has been tabling more amendments to its own bills in recent years.
- Is this the product of effective parliamentary scrutiny or the result of poorly-prepared legislation?
- How far is scrutiny in each House informed by the views of stakeholders? Does this differ between the two Houses?
- Does the timetabling of stages of bills by the usual channels in each House affect the quality of scrutiny? Should the timing of bills be more predictable, or the process of timetabling more transparent?
- How significant are the differences between the two Houses in their scrutiny of Bills, in practice as well as in theory?
Further information
Image: Parliamentary copyright