10th Report - Treaty Scrutiny in Westminster: Addressing the Accountability Gap

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

The Government does not accept the case for fundamental reform of treaty scrutiny under the CRaG Act, but says it is "keen to work with the Committee" to improve working practices.

• On extensions, the Government "continues to believe the statutory scrutiny period is sufficient". It will consider requests "on a case-by-case basis" and sets out factors it takes into account, but says it "needs to retain the ability to decide not to extend the period in any case".
• It does not agree with the Hansard Society's assessment of the CRaG Act, and states there is no need for express parliamentary approval of a particular group of treaties.
• It agrees there is scope to improve Explanatory Memoranda and says it will "publish an updated template and guidance".
• It "commits to exploring options" so the Committee is appropriately sighted on treaty actions, and will review its guidance on implementing existing commitments. On non-binding instruments it "intends to update its guidance" but says general criteria are difficult to provide.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error