Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 9
Seventh Report - Coronavirus Act 2020 Two Years On
Published 18 Mar 2022
Paragraph 59
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Coronavirus Act 2020 Two Years On All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
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.
From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Seventh Report - Coronavirus Act 2020 Two Years On (HC 978), paragraph 59, 18 March 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 May 2022 (deadline 18 May 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and says it continues to review the legal framework and lessons learned from COVID-19, with several matters left to the independent UK COVID-19 Inquiry.
- On sunset clauses, the government "agrees that sunset clauses, including their length, should be considered carefully and explained to Parliament".
- On amending provisions after Royal Assent, the government notes the Committee's view and says it is "standard legislative process that Parliament is not able to amend primary legislation once an Act has gained Royal Assent".
- On reviewing individual provisions, the government says it "is still to be determined whether any additional centrally-coordinated review will take place" beyond the independent inquiry. Inquiry timing is a matter for its independent Chair.
- On two-monthly reports, the government says it "will continue to publish" them, with detail "proportional to the provisions which remain in force".