Select committee: Constitution Committee
Conclusion 30
9th Report - The roles of the Lord Chancellor and the Law Officers
Published 18 Jan 2023
Paragraph 247
Constitution Committee Role of the Lord Chancellor and the Law Officers All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Codification of the Law Officers’ duties would improve public understanding of the various aspects of their role, including which functions should be carried out independently of Government. The Ministerial Code and the Cabinet Manual should be amended to define clearly the duties of the Law Officers. This should include: commitment to the existing constitutional principle of the rule of law as the Law Officers’ principal duty; a definition of which of the Law Officers’ duties are ministerial in nature , and subject to collective responsibility, and which should be conducted independently of Government. Where there is overlap, this should be clearly stated; the principle of parliamentary accountability, which applies to the Law Officers by virtue of their membership of one of either House of Parliament.
From: Constitution Committee, 9th Report - The roles of the Lord Chancellor and the Law Officers, paragraph 247, 18 January 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 17 March 2023 (deadline 18 March 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government agrees with the Committee on the importance of the rule of law and the value of Law Officers being politicians, but it has "no current plans to review the existing arrangements" for the offices of Lord Chancellor and the Law Officers.
- The Government agrees that "defending the judiciary against unfair, personal or threatening abuse is a core part of the Lord Chancellor’s role", but "respectfully disagrees" that a Lord Chancellor must intervene publicly, saying that an expectation of public intervention "might prove counterproductive".
- On a constitutional lead, the Government believes there is "greater strength in having a number of senior Ministerial leads on discrete constitutional matters", rather than the Lord Chancellor holding overall responsibility, and says ministerial appointments are a matter for the Prime Minister.
- On the Ministerial Code and Cabinet Manual, the Government is "always open to looking at whether updates or amendments are needed" and "remains committed to producing an updated edition of the Cabinet Manual before the end of the current Parliament". It notes a possible danger that codification "is reductive".
- On the Lord Chancellor's oath, the Government "remains unpersuaded" that rewording it to refer to upholding the rule of law would affect the discharge of the duty. On the Internal Market Act and Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, the Law Officers "have nothing further to add at this time".