Pre-legislative Scrutiny

HC Deb 15 October 2001 vol 372 cc1000-1W

Mr. Allen

To ask the President of the Council if he will list the pre-legislative scrutiny of Bills which has taken place since May 1997. [7588]

Mr. Robin Cook

Bills have been scrutinised in a number of ways, and by a variety of types of committee. Those draft Bills subject to parliamentary pre-legislative scrutiny are listed:

Mr. Allen

To ask the President of the Council what discussions he has had on putting future pre-legislative scrutiny on the internet in order to facilitate public interaction in the pre-legislative process; and if he will make a statement. [7590]

Mr. Robin Cook

I support measures to make Parliament more accessible to the public and I am keen to facilitate interaction between Parliament and the public. We have made efforts to publish bills in draft so that they can be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny, which in itself allows greater public involvement in the legislative process. New technology has the potential to assist in this and I welcome the fact that both Parliament and Government routinely publish material on the internet.