Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

Conclusion 10

Fourth Report - Parliamentary Scrutiny of the Government’s handling of Covid-19 Published 10 Sep 2020 Paragraph 51

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Responding to Covid-19 and the Coronavirus Act 2020 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Conclusion (the committee's words)

The use of the urgent procedure has not always been justified, particularly when the Government has announced that measures will be introduced some weeks in advance. Examples of this are provided by the regulations mandating the use of face coverings on public transport, which were announced on 4 June, introduced on 15 June but not debated until 6 July. It is unclear why the urgent procedure was necessary when the planned legislation was announced over a week before it was to come into force. It is even more unclear why debate was not possible until over a month after their announcement.

From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Fourth Report - Parliamentary Scrutiny of the Government’s handling of Covid-19 (HC 377), paragraph 51, 10 September 2020

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 9 December 2020 (deadline 10 November 2020).

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 responds point by point, largely defending its use of the Coronavirus Act and urgent procedures while committing to hold votes on regulations of national significance before they come into force where possible.

On the Civil Contingencies Act, the Government "still believes that was the right approach" of using the Coronavirus Act, citing prior parliamentary scrutiny and legal certainty, and states it believes there are "sufficient safeguards" in the Act.
On the urgent procedure, it says it "cannot hold up urgent regulations that are needed to control the virus and save lives", and describes use of the section 45R procedure as "lawful and rational".
It commits to give Parliament the opportunity, "where practicable", to debate regulations of national significance before they come into force, and says: "We intend to maintain this approach, whenever circumstances permit."
On thematic debates, it points to existing debates and the system of scrutiny in the Act. On two-monthly reports, it is "considering what other information would be helpful to include in future reports".

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