Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, pursuant to the Written Statement of 23 May 2022, Official Report, HCWS47, on Review of legislative drafting, whether the Guide to Gender-Neutral Drafting published in 2019 by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Government Legal Department has been withdrawn.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel will publish its revised drafting guidance on GOV.UK in due course, and a copy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. This guidance will reflect the Government’s position as set out in the Written Statement of 23 May 2022, Official Report, HCWS47.
The 2019 Guide to Gender-Neutral Drafting is not a Government publication. It was produced for an external seminar, and although based on guidance of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, it was not published by them. Stonewall was not consulted in relation to either publication.
Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, whether Stonewall was consulted on the drafting of the Guide to Gender-Neutral Drafting published by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Government Legal Department in 2019.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel will publish its revised drafting guidance on GOV.UK in due course, and a copy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. This guidance will reflect the Government’s position as set out in the Written Statement of 23 May 2022, Official Report, HCWS47.
The 2019 Guide to Gender-Neutral Drafting is not a Government publication. It was produced for an external seminar, and although based on guidance of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, it was not published by them. Stonewall was not consulted in relation to either publication.
Asked by: Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to the Written Statement of 23 May 2022, Official Report, HCWS47, on Review of legislative drafting, whether the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel's revised drafting guidance has been approved by Ministers; and whether she plans to place a copy of the approved guidance in the Library of the House.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel will publish its revised drafting guidance on GOV.UK in due course, and a copy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. This guidance will reflect the Government’s position as set out in the Written Statement of 23 May 2022, Official Report, HCWS47.
The 2019 Guide to Gender-Neutral Drafting is not a Government publication. It was produced for an external seminar, and although based on guidance of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, it was not published by them. Stonewall was not consulted in relation to either publication.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what steps she is taking to programme business to help prevent a build-up of legislation in the House of Lords.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has brought forward an ambitious legislative programme, with 24 bills currently before Parliament, and we will continue to make progress. So far this session 40 bills have been exchanged between the Houses, of which 24 have received Royal Assent.
The arrangement of business in the House of Lords is a matter for that place. I will announce future business in the House of Commons in the usual way.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, pursuant to the answer of 7 June 2023 to Question 187539 on Legislation, when the Government plans to bring forward the Transport bill.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has brought forward an ambitious legislative programme, with 24 bills currently before Parliament. Future business will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to her oral Answer to the Question from the hon. Member for Stockport on 20 April 2023, Official Report, column 386, when she plans to send details of the Home Office surgery to the hon. Member.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Following Business Questions on the 20th April 2023 I wrote to the Home Office to raise this matter. I understand that the Home Office has now contacted the hon. Member for Stockport to provide details of the next surgery near his constituency and that the case raised on the 20th April 2023 has now been resolved.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a committee to consider international agreements in the House of Commons.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Business and Trade Committee has an important role to play in the scrutiny of the Department for Business and Trade and its public bodies, including international trade agreements. The International Trade Committee previously conducted inquiries into the Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand, as well as more recent inquiries into the UK’s CPTPP accession and UK trade negotiations with India and the Gulf Cooperation Group.
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG) provides an effective and robust framework for scrutiny of treaties that require ratification, including Free Trade Agreements. In addition, any legislation required to implement international agreements needs to be scrutinised and passed by Parliament in the usual way.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of Members of Parliament holding second jobs on the service they are able to provide to their constituents.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Committee on Standards has carefully considered the matter of MPs holding second jobs and conducting outside work and resolved not to recommend limiting this in the absence of a consensus in favour of restrictions on time spent and earnings from outside work.
The Government believes that an MPs’ primary role is and must be to serve their constituents and represent their interests in Parliament. That is why we brought forward a motion implementing proposals recommended in the Committee on Standards’ reports on a revised Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules for MPs.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, which bills the Government (a) has and (b) has not withdrawn that it will not be proceeding with that were included in the 2022 Queen’s Speech.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has delivered on many of its 2019 manifesto commitments, and will continue to do so. The 2022 Queen's Speech set out an ambitious legislative programme and so far this session 24 Bills have received Royal Assent.
The House has been informed of three Bills that were announced in the Queen's Speech on 10 May 2022 that have been introduced to Parliament and will no longer make progress:
The measures in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill will now be pursued as single measure Bills. We remain fully committed to delivering our manifesto commitments and this approach is now the surest and the quickest way of doing so.
The Government will inform the House of any further changes in the usual way.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that their Departments meet deadlines for replying to Members’ correspondence.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Parliament has a right to hold Ministers to account and, as Leader of the House, I expect Government Ministers to respond quickly and effectively to Members’ correspondence. I will continue to drive that message and I encourage members who get an unsatisfactory response to write to me and I will take this up for any Member who does not get a proper response.
I recognise that my office and I have a role to play in making representations to Government on behalf of the House of Commons, and have taken a number of actions:
The Parliamentary Capability Team in the Cabinet Office also provides training on managing parliamentary work to civil servants of all departments and grades, including blended learning courses on ministerial correspondence and tailored workshops for Senior Civil Servants. Since April 2022, 686 civil servants from across government have attended training provided by the Parliamentary Capability Team on managing Ministerial Correspondence and Written Parliamentary Questions.
In addition, the Cabinet Office Guide to Handling Correspondence, which is available on Gov.uk, includes guidance for civil servants on how to handle correspondence from MPs, Peers, members of the devolved legislatures and members of the public (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/handling-government-correspondence-guidance).