English Votes for English Laws inquiry

Published 7 July 2017.

The government remains confident that the English votes for English laws provisions are working well and does not propose making substantive changes to the Standing Orders.

• It agrees that provisional certification before Report stage is "helpful and that it should continue", and "would welcome" a move to publish consolidated certification information online, which it describes as "essentially a matter for the House".
• It does not believe a redraft of the Standing Orders is required, as the Procedure Committee recommended, citing the absence of "any incident" where they failed to ensure that the Parliamentary process is delivered.
• On making Legislative Grand Committees non-automatic, it is "sympathetic to the aims" and "open to" refining the process in light of future experience, but is "not convinced at this stage" that the change would provide clarity.
• It is reviewing its guidance to officials on certification, and will review the statutory instrument Explanatory Memorandum template. Rather than commit to a formal follow-up review at a specific point, it proposes to "keep the technical operation of the provisions under review".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error