Coronavirus Act 2020 Two Years On

The Committee noted that sunset clauses, including their appropriate length, should be considered carefully for any future legislation. Whilst a useful legislative tool, they can allow for stronger and broader powers than would otherwise be passed by Parliament, and the Government recognised in their evidence that without the sunset clause, this legislation as a whole might not have been approved by Parliament in the way it was.

Any future use of sunset clauses in relation to emergency legislation should come with a clear explanation about why the Government believes that the length of the sunset being proposed is proportionate to the emergency being addressed.

Whilst we accept the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s defence of the length of the sunset clause, we have concerns over the lack of ability to amend provisions at subsequent points. The Committee welcomes Mr Javid’s acknowledgment that Parliament not being able to amend at least some individual provisions after the initial passing of the Act should be included as part of the ‘lessons learned’ process. The Committee urges the Government to ensure that greater consideration is given in future to Parliament’s ability to scrutinise and amend emergency provisions whilst not affecting the overall integrity of the legislation.

The Committee noted the improvement in the content of the two-monthly reports and welcomes the Government committing to identify further improvements that could be made as part of a ‘lessons learned’ inquiry. We look forward to seeing these improvements in the report of March 2022 which will cover the four provisions that are due to be renewed and the reasons behind that. (Paragraph 41) Lessons learned and preparedness for the future

The Committee welcomes the Government’s commitment to a thorough and wide- ranging inquiry to learn the lessons from the Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Committee welcomes that the inquiry’s draft terms of reference are being put for public consultation, and that bereaved families and other affected groups are being consulted specifically.

In order to provide clarity to the public, the Committee calls on the Government to set out in more detail the timetable for the inquiry. We also call on the Government to require that the inquiry proceeds in a thorough but timely manner, while the experiences of the pandemic and the Government’s response are fresh in the mind and to avoid institutional knowledge being lost.

We also recommend that the UK Covid-19 Inquiry include a comprehensive analysis of the necessity and proportionality of each section of the Coronavirus Act 2020 to better aid in the future development of similar emergency legislation. Should the public Coronavirus Act 2020 Two Years On 25 inquiry not cover this, we recommend that the Department of Health and Social Care undertake this analysis and report back to this Committee and to Parliament on its findings.

The Committee noted the existence of the draft Pandemic Flu Bill and believes that, although appreciating that the uncertainty around the future make it difficult, conducting pre-legislative scrutiny to provide an update and improved version of previous work would be of considerable benefit to the preparedness to respond to the next emergency.

The Committee urges the Government to look again at the possibility of introducing a piece or range of draft legislation to allow for prior scrutiny of plans before an emergency occurs. Whilst the Committee appreciates the point made by the Secretary of State that we cannot predict what a future emergency might look like, we believe that there is still a lot of vital scrutiny work that can be done in advance to create a flexible framework which looks at parliamentary processes, best practices etc. It should be laid in Parliament and robust enough to cover a range of eventualities with only small add-ons needed to address specific emergencies.

The Committee welcomes the Government’s willingness to consider whether the publication of data in future emergencies could be improved.

We urge the Government to include this in the inquiry looking at the pandemic response and commit to set out a more consistent approach to publishing all data that inform decision making, including how those data have been utilised, in any future emergency.

We welcome the commitment from the Secretary of State to learn lessons from the way the Government legislated during this pandemic and expect it to be a subject of investigation within the upcoming inquiry into the Government’s COVID-19 response. The Committee has noted that the use of guidance to change the law and thus avoiding Parliament is concerning and not a practice that should continue.

The Committee calls on the Government to carefully consider the use of guidance in future emergencies to ensure maximum clarity and minimal complexity for the public and law enforcement. The Government should ensure that future legislation of this type doesn’t allow for the ability to use guidance to overrule key elements of legislation, as this leads to confusion. (Paragraph 75) 26 Coronavirus Act 2020 Two Years On