Rt Hon HARRIET HARMAN QC, MP LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

As part of the constitutional reform agenda, we want stronger accountability of the government to Parliament and greater engagement between Parliament and the people.

The change in the way that we plan to announce our legislative programme will mark a step forward in these respects.

Here, in Parliament, we spend most of our time legislating, so it is right that Parliament should have early sight of the government’s thinking on what we will be asking it to consider.

The work of government in putting together the programme has hitherto gone on behind closed doors, with no one outside able to see the overview of it as a whole until it was ready to steam ahead into Parliament.

I believe that the best laws are made when strong government is held to account by a strong parliament. Parliament cannot work effectively if it is kept in the dark about the preparations for the Queen’s Speech.

In the coming year, we will publish the draft programme earlier and will be able to have more consultation and discussion with the public about the bills it contains.

Following publication of the draft coroner’s Bill and its plain English translation, it is my intention in publishing our draft programme that we should work towards producing at least one plain-language version of a bill in each session.

Publication of the draft programme builds on a number of steps that we have taken to improve the ability of the House of Commons to scrutinise legislation.

I hope that readers of this latest edition of the Parliamentary Yearbook will find it a useful reference source for understanding the work of the House of Commons.