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Constitution

My Lords, as my noble and learned friend Lord Howe has indicated, this is very much a pudding without a theme. Therefore, the disparate measures encompassed in it will need extensive scrutiny by Parliament. Some specific proposals are to be welcomed. I very much agree with the proposal to place a statutory duty on the Lord Chancellor to report on Law Commission recommendations. In the Statement, this is separate from the Constitutional Renewal Bill. If it is to be a statutory requirement, would it not make more sense to include it in the Constitutional Renewal Bill? On Lords reform, the Minister said that the intention of the cross-party group is to work towards getting the parties to put proposals in their election manifestos. In other words, it is a party aim. As such, the proceedings of the group are not covered by any of the exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act. Can we now see the papers, not least because they seem to have been released to the Financial Times?