Legislative scrutiny : Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill; Video Recordings Bill, fourth report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal minutes and written evidence

The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill was re-introduced in the House of Commons on 19 November 2009 and the Committee welcomes a number of aspects of the Bill which is implementing some of the commitments made by the Prime Minister in his Governance of Britain statement in July 2007.

But the Committee considers there are a number of significant omissions from the Bill including in relation to judicial appointments, parliamentary scrutiny of security and intelligence matters, and the restrictive judicial interpretation of the meaning of 'public function' in the Human Rights Act.

They recommend amendments relating to the latter two points.

This report additionally looks at: protest around Parliament; ratification of treaties and right to a fair hearing; and, access to a court in the determination of civil rights.

The Video Recordings Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 15 December 2009 and is a fast track piece of legislation which repeals and revives the provisions of the Video Recordings Act 1984 in order to enable them to be notified to the European Commission under the Technical Standards Directive and so secure its enforceability. The Committee considers the human rights issues raised by this Bill should be subjected to parliamentary scrutiny.

However as the 1984 Act serves as an important child protection purpose, that are currently unenforceable, the Committee accepts the need for fast tracking this legislation and does not propose to further scrutinize this Bill.