Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Tyler (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Tuesday, 8 June 2010.

House of Lords Reform: Committee Membership

Question: My Lords, does my noble friend recall that after the White Paper of 2008, the previous Government promised to bring forward for pre-legislative scrutiny precisely the Bill to which he is now referring, but never did so? In order to meet the concerns expressed on all sides of the House, I suggest that the sooner we get a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny before a Joint Committee, as set out by my noble friend, the better. To accelerate that process, I would draw my noble friend’s attention—modestly—to the fact that the Second Chamber of Parliament Bill was introduced in the other House five years ago by Mr Kenneth Clarke, Mr Robin Cook, Mr Tony Wright, Sir George Young and myself.

Answer: The building blocks for this Bill are all around us. The work has been done in many committees; I have served on three over the past 10 years. But this committee is going to do a real job of work that will allow the proper work of Parliament on its proposals.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 719 c598
Session: 2010-12
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: House of Lords Legislation Membership Reform House of Lords Reform Cross-Party Committee
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk