Queen’s Speech LIVE - Bill by Bill
The Bills that were announced today were as follows:
Personal Care at Home Bill:
This will provide free personal care in their own homes for those with the highest need. Up to 350,000 people with the greatest needs could benefit from free charges and top-up fees for care in their own homes.
Children’s, Schools and Families Bill:
There will be a new duty on local authorities to act when parents are unhappy. Where standards are ‘unacceptably low’, schools will be closed. There will be an entitlement to one-to-one tuition if a pupil is falling behind.
Fiscal Responsibility Bill:
The Bill will enact the Government’s commitment to halve the deficit in four years.
Financial Services Bill:
The Bill will give the Government the power to intervene on bonuses, will create a new consumer financial advice body and enable firms to be less reliant on the taxpayers.
Crime and Security Bill:
The Bill will require parenting assessment to be carried out on parents of children aged 10 to 15 who are being considered for an anti-social care order. The police swill have to hold beat meetings; perpetrators of domestic violence will be banned from their homes; DNA records on adults arrested but not charged will be kept for six years; there will be compulsory licensing for wheel-clampers.
Digital Economy Bill:
New age ratings for computer games will be introduced to protect children; universally available broadband in the UK will be rolled out; tackling on-line copyright infringement; preparing the UK to take advantage of the digital age.
Energy Bill:
More help for the most vulnerable households with their energy bills; a levy on electricity suppliers to subsidise carbon capture and storage plants; Ofgem will be required to ensure customers get a better, fairer deal.
Flood and Water Management Bill:
Better protection for businesses, communities and homes from the risks of extreme weather.
Equality Bill:
There will be a new public sector duty to narrow the gap between rich and poor, ban age discrimination outside the workplace and introduce reporting for large employers on gender pay. Agency workers will receive equal treatment with staff members after 12 weeks in a job.
Child Poverty Bill:
The Bill will provide for the Government pledge to eradicate child poverty by 2020 and will set up a commission to monitor progress.
Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill:
The Civil Service will be put on a statutory footing; continued reform of the House of Lords - they will have the power to expel a Member; by-elections to elect hereditary peers will be ended. Peers will be allowed to resign and disclaim their peerages.
The draft House of Lords Reform Bill will set out how the Government will bring about a wholly or substantially selected second chamber of Parliament.
Bribery Bill:
The bill would help to reinforce integrity in the business and public sectors. There will be a comprehensive UK strategy for tackling foreign bribery and of bribing a foreign public official in order to obtain or retain business.
Cluster and Munitions Bill:
This bill will ban the use, development production, stockpiling, retention or transfer of cluster munitions.
Draft Bills
House of Lords Reform Bill:
Further reform for the House of Lords including ending the election of hereditary peers.
International Development Bill:
The Government will be committed to spend 0.7% of gross national income on international development by 2013.
The real question is - will this be enough to keep Gordon Brown at No 10?
What do you think?
Tags: General Election, Gordon Brown, Government, Government Bills, Legislation, Parliament, Queen's Speech
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Comments (4)
November 18th, 2009 at 5:31 pm Posted by Annabel Kerr
Would be interesting to do an analysis of how many of these bills directly counter the plans proposed by the Tories! Any surprises in the speech or was it pretty much known before the Queen left her house this morning?!
November 18th, 2009 at 5:33 pm Posted by William Heald
It was an exciting day politically. The electioneering has begun and I think the Bills announced above have drawn the battlelines for a bitter election struggle.
Watching the coverage and tweeting it struck me how exciting people find the Queen’s Speech, especially rituals such as Black Rod’s cameo and teh checking of the cellars before the Queen arrives. I think the spectacle and pageantry mixed with the serious political nature of the event makes it one to definitely watch and contradicts those who say it is a waste of time.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pm Posted by Hugh McKinney
It was a very political speech designed to raise a number of issues that the Government know the Tories are opposed to. They will try to embarrass the Tories in the debates during the passage of some of these Bills and try to pass as many as they can to waste time after the Election as the Tories (if they win) attempt to dismantle or repeal them.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:42 pm Posted by Hugh McKinney
It was also very comprehensively leaked in advance so there were no real shocks or surprises.
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