Her Majesty has just delivered the first Conservative Queen’s Speech in 19 years — or as David Cameron described it, a ‘One Nation Queen’s Speech from a One Nation Government’. Here are the key pieces of legislation the government will be looking to pass over the next 12 months.
Full Employment and Welfare Benefits Bill (and related legislation): To freeze the main rates of the majority of working-age benefits, tax credits and child benefit. Pensioners and extra costs relating to disability will be protected. The benefit cap will be reduced to £23,000 per year. A new Youth Allowance for 18-21 year olds will be introduced, with stronger work conditions. Automatic entitlement to housing support for 18-21 year olds will be scrapped. Frequent reports will be required on progress towards full employment, three million apprenticeships and the status of the Troubled Families programme.
Enterprise Bill: Aiming for £10 billion of red tape savings by 2020, creating the Small Business Conciliation Service to help resolve business disputes, improving the business rates system ahead of a revaluation in 2017 as well as other measures to ‘strengthen the UK’s competitiveness’. Regulators will need to be more transparent and a cap will be introduced on exit payments for public sector workers.
Finance Bill (and National Insurance Contributions Bill): Setting a ceiling on rates of Income Tax, VAT and National Insurance so they cannot be raised above current levels.
Childcare Bill: Doubling free childcare to 30 hours a week for parents of three and four year olds. To help parents, local authorities will be required to publish more information about provision of childcare.
Housing Bill: Extending Right to Buy discounts to 1.3 million housing association tenants. Local authorities will be required to dispose of their most high-value properties. The bill will also provide statutory framework for the Starter Homes programme and Right to Build will be introduced, making it easier for individuals to build their own properties.
Energy Bill: Establish the Oil and Gas Authority as a new independent regulator, with the aim of maximising revenue from the UK’s oil and gas reserves. Local authorities will be given the final say on onshore wind farms applications. The objective to transition to a low carbon electricity system will remain, while maintaining the security of our energy supply.
Immigration Bill: Making it illegal for migrants to work in Britain who have ‘no right to be here’. A new enforcement agency will be introduced to crack down on exploitation. It will also become illegal for employment agencies to recruit solely from abroad. The ‘deport first, appeal later’ principle will be extended and it will be easier to evict illegal migrants. All foreigner offenders released on bail will have to be tagged.
Trade Unions Bill: Introducing a 50 per cent voting threshold for turnouts in trade union ballots. In essential public services, 40 per cent of those entitled to vote will have to vote in favour of action. Steps will be taken to tackle the intimidation of non-striking workers and a transparent opt-in process will be introduced for the political fund element of trade union subscriptions.
Education and Adoption Bill: On the schools element, Regional Schools Commissioners will be given powers to bring in leadership support to help failing schools and speed up the process to turn schools into academies. Inadequate Ofsted judgements will lead to schools becoming academies. Schools that are classified under a new ‘coasting’ definition (mediocre performance and insufficient pupil progress) will be eligible for becoming academies. On adoption, regional adoption agencies will be introduced to increase the scale at which adoption services are delivered.
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill: Enabling the government to devolve more powers from Whitehall to towns and counties — i.e. building the Northern Powerhouse. This includes providing elected mayors for combined authority areas, such as Manchester. These mayors will undertake the functions of Police and Crime Commissioners. A Buses Bill will also allow elected-mayors to have extra franchising powers over bus services.
High Speed Rail (London-West Midlands) Bill: Providing the powers required to build the first phase of the HS2 railway between London and the West Midlands.
Scotland Bill: Implementing the proposals of the Smith Commission: allowing the Scottish Parliament to set thresholds and rates of income tax on Scottish earnings, giving Scottish Parliament first ten per cent of VAT revenue, devolving responsibility for Air Passenger Duty and handing over additional borrowing powers as well as £2.5 billion of new welfare powers. The Barnett formula will be retained but it will account for a smaller share, as more of the money will be raised by tax decisions in Holyrood.
Wales Bill: Powers devolved to the Welsh Assembly — including ports, taxi regulation, bus services, speed limits and sewage services. Licensing for onshore oil and gas exploration will be devolved, as will powers over local elections, allowing the Assembly to decide if 16 or 17 year olds can vote.
Northern Ireland Bill: Establishing a Historical Investigations Unit to investigate unsolved deaths relating to The Troubles. The government will commit to full dissolve of relevant material.
European Union Referendum Bill: Allowing the electorate to have an in-out vote on the UK’s membership of the EU before the end of 2017. The franchise will be based on the general election — plus members of the House of Lords and Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar.
Extremism Bill: Introducing several measures to ‘defeat all forms of extremism’. ‘Banning Orders’ will allow the Home Secretary to ban extremist groups. ‘Extremism Disruption Orders’ will give law enforcement authorities powers to stop individuals engaging in extremist behaviour. ‘Closure Orders’ will allow local authorities to shut down premises used to support extremism. Ofcom’s role will also be ‘strengthened’ so it can take action against channels that broadcast extremist content. Employment checks will allow employers to bar individuals who are deemed extremists working with children.
Investigatory Powers Bill: The wording around this bill is a tad vague. It suggests that additional powers will be given to law enforcement agencies to target the communications of terrorists. This includes the ability to target communications online and meet the gaps the government says exist in the current capabilities. ‘Appropriate oversight’ will be arranged.
Policing and Criminal Justice Bill: Limiting pre-charge bail to 28 days, ensuring that detained 17 years olds are covered by PACE, reforming legislation for those held under the Mental Health Act, strengthening the powers of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate and making it easier to bring police corruption to light. The Police Federation will be reformed and there will be improved protection for children — plus some unspecified criminal justice reforms.
Psychoactive Substance Bill: Blanket ban on supplying, possessing with intent to supply, importing or exporting new ‘psychoactive substances’ — including so called ‘legal highs’. Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, food and medical products are excluded, as are controlled drugs.
Bank of England Bill: strengthening the governance and accountability of the Bank of England and formalising changes to the senior management. More details to be announced at a later date.
Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill: Strengthening the powers of the Charities Commission so they can close down a charity after an inquiry.
Votes for Life Bill: Allow British citizens living overseas to vote in elections, 15 years after living in the UK.
Armed Forces Bill: Continuation of the 2006 Armed Forces Act.
Personal Tax Allowance Bill: Ensuring that future increases to the income tax personal allowance reflect changes to the national minimum wage — so individuals on 30 hours a week do not pay income tax.
Draft Public Services Ombudsman Bill: creating a Public Service Ombudsman, combining several existing roles to create a more effective and accessible service for complaints.
There are two other notable bits of legislation announced by Her Majesty that do not have associated bills:
English votes for English laws: In the Queen’s Speech, Her Majesty announced that changes will be made to introduce a form of English votes for Enligh laws, known as EVEL: ‘My government will bring forward changes to the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. These changes will create fairer procedures to ensure that decisions affecting England, or England and Wales, can be taken only with the consent of the majority of Members of Parliament representing constituencies in those parts of our United Kingdom.’
British Bill of Rights: As reported in the Times this morning, the government won’t be legislating to scrap the Human Rights Act in the next year. Instead, Her Majesty said ‘my government will bring forward proposals for a British Bill of Rights’.
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