Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill
Sets up a new Serious and Organised Crime Agency, described as the British equivalent of the FBI; also makes incitement to religious hatred a crime; gives police new powers to stop animal rights activists protesting outside people's homes; possibly includes wider search warrants and police powers to fingerprint and photograph anyone anywhere.
Drugs Bill
Gives police power to drugs test anyone at the point of arrest rather than after they are charged, and doubles the amount of time suspected dealers can be held in custody; may also redefine drug possession to make it a criminal offence to have illegal drugs in your bloodstream.
ID Cards Bill
Permits creation of a national database containing details of everyone in the UK as a prelude to introducing national identity cards; creates a watchdog to oversee ID cards, called the National Identity Scheme Commissioner
Road Safety Bill
Tougher penalties for motorists using mobile phones; graduated fines and a wider range of penalties for speeding, so minor offenders can be punished less severely and courts can order bad drivers to go on training course; more powers for police to enforce drink-drive laws, with roadside testing permitted.
Management of Offenders and Sentencing Bill
Allows for the part privatisation of the Probation Service by allowing the Home Office to order probation boards to buy their services from other suppliers; restructures fines system so that a fine can be based on earnings; extends electronic tagging to those on bail or performing community sentences.
Constitutional Reform Bill
Creates a new, independent, judicial appointments commission to appoint judges; sets up a Supreme Court to supersede the judicial committee of the House of Lords as the highest appeal court in the land; reforms the office of Lord Chancellor, and ends powers of the Lord President of Council to sit as a judge.
Mental Capacity Bill
Reform of mental health laws including power for patients to create living wills, setting out in advance how much medical treatment they would like before they die - a provision that some describe as legalised euthanasia.
Disability Discrimination Bill
More rights for disabled people in society as well as at work, including access to vehicles as well as to buildings, and requirement for landlords to make reasonable adaptations to rented homes.
Equality Bill
Makes it illegal to discriminate against people on the grounds of their religious faith, and sets up a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights to oversee the new regime
Criminal Defence Service Bill
Seeks to reduce spending on legal aid in criminal cases by bringing back means testing in magistrates' court cases
Education Bill
Reduces bureaucracy in schools by making schools inspections shorter and sharper; allows for snap inspections; gives head teachers control over their own three year budgets.
School Transport Bill
Empowers schools to come up with more innovative solutions to getting children to and from school safely.
Railways Bill
Reforms power structure controlling British railways, including scrapping the Strategic Rail Authority, and handing some decision-making powers back to the DoT; rail safety to be the responsibility of the Office for Rail Regulation.
Crossrail Bill
Provides for building the much delayed rail route across London - too late, unfortunately, for it aid the capital's bid to hold the 2012 Olympics.
Modernising Rural Delivery Bill
Creates a new agency to replace English Nature, parts of the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service, to advise the Government on rural matters and ensure that the Government's ideas about the countryside are implemented.
Animal Welfare Bill
Amalgamates existing laws on animal welfare in England and Wales to improve protection for animals in boarding kennels, riding schools, circuses and pet shops, livery stables, sanctuaries and greyhound stables, and strengthen penalties for abuse. May also contain a clause amending the recently passed Hunting Act, so that the hunting ban is delayed until July 2006.
Gambling Bill
Controversial provisions reintroduced from the last parliamentary session, which include power for councils to licence Vegas-style super-casinos, plus creation of a new gambling watchdog.
Consumer Credit Bill
Outlaws some unfair moneylending practices, obliges lenders to provide an annual statement, and allows public to complain about their lenders to a Financial Ombudsman.
National Lottery Bill
Reforms the way that lottery cash is allocated to ensure more money goes to good causes, including cutting the number of funds which distribute lottery money from three to one.
European Union Bill
Paves the way for a referendum on the proposed new EU Constitution, without naming a date.
Child Benefit Bill
Extends Child Benefit to young people up to the age of 19 who are in work-based training, as well those in full-time education.
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill
Gives local councils more powers to tackle fly-tipping, abandoned cars, noise nuisance, light pollution and irresponsible landlords.
International Organisations Bill
Facilitates co-operation with a number of international bodies, including the European Court of Human Rights, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the International Criminal Court.
Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Bill
Integrates Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise into one, giant department called Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs; sets up a new prosecutions office to bring HMRC cases.
Charities Bill
Redefines what constitutes a charity, as a body whose aim is public benefit - forcing public schools to prove they are of public benefit if they are to continue receive the tax breaks of charitable status; reforms the Charity Commission; modernises the legal regulation of charities; reforms the control of street collections.
Inquiries Bill
Provides a statutory framework for inquiries, granting them statutory powers to require evidence, and setting out a legal frame of reference within which they can operate.
Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Bill
Unifies three existing Welsh ombudsmen's roles into one, and strengthens powers for dispute resolution.
Transport (Wales) Bill
Gives Welsh Assembly power to draw up and implement an integrated transport policy, and to set up a Public Transport Users Committee.
DRAFT BILLS AND PROPOSED LEGISLATION
Draft Counter-Terrorism proposals
This not a bill but a set of draft proposals, and no specific measures will be outlined today; it may include no-jury trials for terrorist cases, and the use of phone-tap transcripts as evidence in court for the first time.
Draft Courts and Tribunals Bill
A draft bill which would create a unified tribunals system, merging dozens of bodies scattered across Whitehall; also includes measures limiting the powers of bailiffs in order to protect debtors from oppressive pursuit of debts.
Draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill
Proposes to create a new criminal offence to make it easier to prosecute large companies who show disregard for the safety of workers or customers, resulting in death.
Draft Youth Justice bill
Sets out tougher community punishments, including more tagging and supervision, as an alternative to jail for young offenders; lays down principle that the aim of sentencing juveniles is to prevent offending.
Draft Child Contact and Inter-Country Adoption proposals
Proposals setting out rules for inter-country adoptions, to crackdown on international trade in babies; also establishes principle that children should see their fathers after their parents divorce, so long as it is safe, and gives courts a wider range of options when parents breach contact orders - eg ordering parent to pay compensation for a holiday cancelled through their breach of an order - as well as existing fines and imprisonment.
Draft Mental Health Bill
Reforms the law by which seriously ill mental health patients can be "sectioned", or taken into hospital against their will, introducing new safeguards.
Draft Company Law Reform Bill
Aims to encourage shareholder involvement; promote a long term investment culture; ensure better regulation; and to make it easier to set up and run a company.
Draft Commons Bill
Reforms the way common land is managed, to ban abuses and protect vulnerable habitats.
Draft Civil Service Bill
Limits the power and number of political special advisers working alongside the Civil Service.
Judicial Pensions
Proposals to guarantee level of judges' pensions, and reform judicial pension regulations in line with the 2004 Finance Act.
