§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his policy on the use of sunset clauses in legislation; and which Acts containing such clauses relevant to his Department were passed in each year since 1997. [149331]
§ Mr. StrawWhether a sunset clause is needed in legislation depends on the circumstance of each Bill. In the case of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), much of our legislation is to implement HMG's international obligations, so if those obligations do not have a specific time limit, a limit in our domestic legislation would not be appropriate. No Acts of Parliament since 1997 for which the FCO is responsible contained a sunset clause.