Senior Government officials to answer questions concerns about the current use of secondary legislation
On Tuesday 20 April 2021, the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee will hear from the Permanent Secretaries of three government departments on numerous recurring issues the Committee has raised regarding the quality of Secondary Legislation.
Meeting details
At 4.00pm: Oral evidence
Work
Departmental support of secondary legislation (Legislative scrutiny)
First Parliamentary Counsel at Office of the Parliamentary Counsel
Permanent Secretary at Government Legal Department
Permanent Secretary at Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Witnesses:
- Elizabeth Gardiner, First Parliamentary Counsel and Permanent Secretary of the Government in Parliament Group in the Cabinet Office;
- Susanna McGibbon, Treasury Solicitor and Permanent Secretary of the Government Legal Department; and
- Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Head of the Civil Service Policy Profession.
Topics to be discussed:
- The threshold between primary and secondary legislation;
- Increased use of “skeleton bills”;
- Blurring of legislation and guidance;
- The use of emergency legislation during the pandemic;
- The quality of legislation and supporting information.