The Joint Committee on the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill today published a call for evidence as it begins its detailed analysis of the proposals in the Bill.

The Committee has been formed by both Houses of Parliament to examine and report on the Government's Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill which was published on 25 March 2008. The Government claim the Draft Bill will 'rebalance power between Parliament and the Government and give Parliament more ability to hold the Government to account'. The Committee will seek to establish how effective the draft bill will be in achieving that aim.

The Committee has announced it would welcome evidence on issues including protests in Parliament Square, reform of the role of the Attorney General, and war powers, asking if the Government right to adopt a resolution route rather than a legislative route for decisions to send armed forces into conflict, and does it give Parliament sufficient control over conflict decisions.

The Committee, which includes Scottish MPs Mark Lazarowicz and Alistair Carmichael, and Lord Fraser of Carmyllie as members, also wishes evidence on whether the draft bill increases the accountability of the civil service to Parliament, and are the provisions in the bill relating to special advisors appropriate.

Michael Foster MP, chairman of the Joint Committee, said: “This Committee has been formed to look in detail at what will be a very significant Bill for the future relationship between Parliament and Government.

“The Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill has been heralded by the Government as a chance for Parliament to hold them to account more effectively and we will seek to find out how this can be achieved.

“We will look at the Bill in its entirety and are interested in receiving evidence from any interested parties who can give us their insights into how the proposals in the Draft Bill will affect Parliament's ability to scrutinise the Government.”

The Closing date for the submission of written evidence is Thursday 12 June 2008.  The call for evidence and other details of the Committee can be found here. The draft bill can be found here .

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