CONSULTATION

How people can contribute

1. The Government believes that it is in the interests of good government and informed and rigorous public debate for it to set out its legislative priorities for consultation. Closer engagement between Government, Parliament and the public will inform the Government's thinking as it finalises its legislative programme and will subsequently inform the consideration of individual bills that are scrutinised by Parliament.

2. The Government therefore welcomes comments on its proposals and this year has increased the number of ways people can comment on the draft legislative programme.

3. At the end of this chapter is a form for people to comment on the draft legislative programme as a whole, and also on specific policy issues and individual bills. Comments can be sent by post or responses can be made online at www.commonsleader.gov.uk/draftprogramme. Please note that the deadline for responses is 6 August 2008.

4. The website will have an easy to read form of this green paper and access to a You Tube site which during the consultation period will feature videos of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the House of Commons and other Ministers talking about the Draft Legislative Programme.

5. During the consultation period the Leader of the House of Commons and other Cabinet Ministers will be taking part in interactive online question and answer sessions (webchats). Details of these will also be published on the website.

6. A summary leaflet setting out the themes and bills of the draft legislative programme and telling people how to find out more and how to submit their comments is also available on the website, or in paper copy on request. Copies of the leaflet will also be available in public libraries.

7. There are two ways to give the Government people's views. Firstly we are keen to have people's thoughts on the overall programme of Bills, which are their priorities and what other areas people consider important. Secondly, there will be specific consultations on each Bill - chapter 3 lists those bills where consultation is on-going so that views are fed directly to the relevant department. The details of the consultations on specific bills set out in Chapter 3 show how the Government has already consulted, is currently consulting or has plans to consult on particular policy proposals. The Draft Legislative Programme does not cut across these other, more detailed consultations. Publishing the Draft Legislative Programme as a whole is intended to supplement the consideration of individual policy proposals by setting them within the wider context of the Government's legislative priorities.

8. Last year, the new Regional Ministers took part in events in their region to highlight the publication of the Draft Legislative Programme. The Territorial Secretaries of State also invited comments on the programme from people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Regional Ministers will be taking part in events in their region again this year; details of these events will be published at www.commonsleader.gov.uk/regionalactivity. The Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also take forward activity which will also be detailed on the website.

9. Details of the individual bills in Chapter 3 includes weblinks to ongoing policy consultations - current as of 14 May 2008. As new consultations are launched on other bills, these will be added to the list on the Leader of the House of Commons' website at www.commonsleader.gov.uk/draftprogramme.

10. Comments about individual bill proposals will be passed to the relevant department and where that department has a live consultation they will take the comments into account as part of that consultation and, where appropriate, reflect them in their departmental consultation response. Comments on individual bill proposals will not be included in the summary of consultation responses for the draft legislative programme as a whole.

Consultation with Parliament

11. The approach this year builds on the helpful recommendations from the Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons' report, Scrutiny of the Draft Legislative Programme .

12. All members of both Houses of Parliament will receive a copy of this green paper and the summary leaflet. Last year the Draft Legislative Programme was debated in both Houses just before the summer recess. This year, a day will also be offered in each House to debate the Draft Legislative Programme, well in advance of the summer recess.

13. The Leader of the House of Commons has invited the House of Commons Liaison Committee (consisting of the Chairs of all select committees) to take evidence on the draft legislative programme. The Government recognises that elements of the programme may also be of interest to departmental select committees, although the Government recognises that it is for the select committees to decide their own priorities.

How the Government will respond to this consultation

14. Unless respondents indicate that they do not wish their comments to be made public, comments made as part of this consultation may be published on the website of the Leader of the House of Commons and will be included in the summary of consultation responses that the Government will publish in the autumn. Individuals will be able to indicate whether or not you want your name associated with your comments. 

15. Responses to this consultation will be used to produce the legislative programme for 2008-09 as set out in the Queen's Speech towards the end of this year. It is important to remember that although Government wants to take forward as many of its priorities as possible, but it must be mindful that if the legislative programme is too crowded Parliament will not be able to fulfil its democratic role of subjecting all proposals to thorough scrutiny. Parliamentary time is limited so the Government must make best use of it. That involves some difficult decisions about which Bills the Government can bring forward each year and which proposals may have to wait for future years.