§ 47. Fiona MactaggartTo ask the President of the Council what progress has been made in reforming parliamentary procedures relating to the legislative process. [83456]
§ Mrs. BeckettThe House approved the Modernisation Committee's first report on the legislative process in November 1997. Since then we have published five Bills in draft form for pre-legislative scrutiny by a variety of Committees. Fuller explanatory notes have been published with Government Bills. A Special Standing Committee has been used for the first time on a major bill. Experiments have been conducted with programming Bills during their passage through the House. I am firmly committed to improving the quality of legislation and am looking at further ways of doing so.