Select committee: Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee
Conclusion 4
12th Report - Democracy Denied? The urgent need to rebalance power between Parliament and the Executive
Published 24 Nov 2021
Paragraph 65
Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee Delegation of legislative power All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The appropriate threshold between primary and secondary legislation should not be dependent on the exigencies of timing but should be founded on the overarching principle that the principal aspects of policy should be on the face of a bill and only its detailed implementation left to delegated legislation. There is a long-standing maxim that ignorance of the law excuses no-one but if Parliament is ignorant of the law passed in its name, then how can the public be expected to know and obey it.
From: Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, 12th Report - Democracy Denied? The urgent need to rebalance power between Parliament and the Executive, paragraph 65, 24 November 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 January 2022 (deadline 24 January 2022).