Written question asked by Lord Goodhart (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour) on Wednesday, 24 February 2010.

Civil Law Reform Bill

Question: To ask the Leader of the House what consultation was undertaken regarding the decision for pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Civil Law Reform Bill to be carried out by the Justice Committee in the House of Commons rather than by a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament.

Answer: I wrote to the Chairman of Committees in the Lords after the Queen's Speech in November 2009 setting out the draft Bills to be published in the current Session. That letter was put to the Lords Liaison Committee at its December meeting. There were no bids from the usual channels for a Joint Committee on this draft Bill. The Leader of the House of Commons at the same time wrote to the Chairman of the House of Commons Liaison Committee. After discussions, the chairman of that committee indicated that the Justice Committee would undertake pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Civil Law Reform Bill.

Secondary information