HM Government response to the Committee's report on English Votes for English Laws

This is the government's response, published 7 July 2017.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

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".

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