Having looked at the Draft Deregulation Bill in some detail and taken evidence from a wide range of witnesses, the Committee does not think it is appropriate for Ministers to be given power to scrap legislation by order on the subjective test that it is 'no longer of practical use'. There is a risk that to give Ministers that power would undermine effective Parliamentary scrutiny. It was also felt unnecessary when the Law Commissions currently have the power to put forward outdated Bills for abolition anyway. The Law Commissions will need to make changes to their working practices in order to produce more frequent and more responsive Statute Law (Repeals) Bills. The Government should work with the Law Commissions to streamline the process for bringing forward these Bills. As for the duty on regulators to have regard to economic growth, whilst this is supported in principle, it is important that it is not used by Government to undermine the independence of regulators in the way it is implemented. It might be helpful if that provision were explicitly included in the Bill

This collection of essays by leading academics, lawyers, parliamentarians and parliamentary officials provides a critical assessment of the UK Parliament's two main constitutional roles-as a legislature and as the preeminent institution for calling government to account. Both functions are undergoing change and facing new challenges. Part 1 (Legislation) includes chapters on Parliament's emerging responsibilities for pre-legislative scrutiny of government Bills and for evaluating proposed legislation against explicit constitutional standards. The impact on legislation of the European Union and the growing influence of the House of Lords are also examined. Part 2 (Accountability) investigates how Parliament operates to scrutinise areas of executive action previously often shielded from effective parliamentary oversight, including national security, war-making powers and administrative justice. There are also chapters on parliamentary reform, including analysis of the House of Commons 'Wright reforms', parliamentary sovereignty, privilege and the European Convention on Human Rights, Euroscepticism, and parliamentary sovereignty and the regulation of lobbyists. The book will be of interest to anyone who is curious about the work of Parliament and is aimed at legal academics, practitioners and political scientists.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights welcomes the provision in the Criminal Courts and Justice Bill, carried over from the last Session of this Parliament, which extends the current offence of possession of extreme pornography to include possession of pornographic images depicting rape and other non-consensual sexual penetration. The Committee considers this provision to be human rights enhancing, given the evidence of cultural harm done by such pornography, and acknowledges the strong justification provided for this proportionate restriction on individual rights. However, some of the provisions of the Bill cause concern. The Committee is disappointed that the Government has not examined the provisions of the Bill against all the relevant international standards relating to the rights of children. It urges the Government to provide further information in relation to SEN provision in secure colleges; and recommends that the Bill be amended to make explicit that secure college rules can only authorise the use of reasonable force on children as a last resort. The Committee also reports on the Deregulation Bill. It expresses its concern that application of the economic growth duty in that Bill to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) risks the possibility of that body's UN accredited 'A' status being downgraded and could put the UK in breach of its obligations under EU equality law. It recommends that this duty not be applied to the EHRC unless that body is satisfied that it can be done in a way that will not restrict its independence.

Examines contemporary perspectives on law through Twining's scholarly work and with a focus on ethical, global and theoretical contexts.

The government published a draft Deregulation Bill on 1 July 2013 (Cm. 8642, ISBN 9780101864220). The draft Bill was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee, which published its report on 19 December 2013 (HL paper 101/HC 925, session 2013-14, ISBN 9780108551673). In response to the Joint Committee's report, the government has introduced the Bill in a revised form. The Deregulation Bill provides for the removal or reduction of burdens on businesses, civil society, individuals, public sector bodies and the taxpayer. These include measures relating to general and specific areas of business, companies and insolvency, the use of land, housing, transport, communications, the environment, education and training, entertainment, public authorities and the administration of justice. The Bill also provides for a duty on those exercising specified regulatory functions to have regard to the desirability of promoting economic growth. In addition the Bill will repeal legislation that is no longer of any practical use.

The government published a draft Deregulation Bill on 1 July 2013 (Cm. 8642, ISBN 9780101864220). The draft Bill was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee, which published its report on 19 December 2013 (HL paper 101/HC 925, session 2013-14, ISBN 9780108551673). In response to the Joint Committee's report, the government has introduced the Bill in a revised form. The Deregulation Bill provides for the removal or reduction of burdens on businesses, civil society, individuals, public sector bodies and the taxpayer. These include measures relating to general and specific areas of business, companies and insolvency, the use of land, housing, transport, communications, the environment, education and training, entertainment, public authorities and the administration of justice. The Bill also provides for a duty on those exercising specified regulatory functions to have regard to the desirability of promoting economic growth. In addition the Bill will repeal legislation that is no longer of any practical use.

This year's accountability hearings focused on three areas of particular interest: the arrangements for revalidation of doctors, which are to commence on 3 December 2012, and associated matters such as patient involvement and examination of the language competence of doctors; the professional leadership activity undertaken by the GMC in the last year; and the regulation activity undertaken by the GMC, including the establishment of the Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service. The Council is performing effectively in its two roles of defining and applying standards for the medical profession and providing a focus of professional leadership. The outcome of the Law Commission's consultation on professional regulation in the health and care sector, which proposed a formal role for the Health Committee in the accountability structures, is still awaited. Specific concerns included that whilst there has been some progress on the amendment of domestic legislation which restricts the language testing of doctors this is no substitute for the revision of the European legislation which presently prohibits language testing of doctors on a national basis. There have also been continued upward trends in complaints against doctors received by the GMC, and the Committee expects to examine in 2013 the outcomes of further research the GMC has commissioned into these trends. The Committee feels that the present 15-month target for the GMC to complete 90% of its fitness to practise cases should be lowered to 12 months. The Committee also welcomes proposed legislation to enable the GMC's investigatory arm to appeal against decisions made by the MPTS where the outcome of a hearing is disputed

The Independent Commission on Banking's final recommendations aim to create a more stable and competitive basis for UK banking for the long term. The result would be a banking system that is much less likely to cause, or succumb to, financial crises and the huge costs they bring; is self-reliant, so that the taxpayer does not have to bear the losses that banks make; and is effective and efficient at providing the basic banking services of safeguarding retail deposits, operating secure payments systems, and efficiently channelling savings to productive investments in the economy. Stability is crucial and UK banks should have more equity capital and loss-absorbing debt - beyond what has so far been internationally agreed - and their retail banking activities should be structurally separated, by a ring-fence, from wholesale and investment banking activities. The Commission also address competition, which has not been properly effective in UK retail banking. They recommend a seamless switching system based on redirection for personal and small business current accounts, free of cost and risk, complemented by measures to enhance transparency. The new Financial Conduct Authority should have a clear duty to promote effective competition. Structural reform should be complete by the Basel implementation date of 2019 at the latest. These reforms would result in better-capitalised, less leveraged banking more focused on the needs of savers and borrowers in the domestic economy. At the same time UK banks would be free to flourish in global markets, but without UK taxpayer support.

Collectively, mankind has never had it so good despite periodic economic crises of which the current sub-prime crisis is merely the latest example. Much of this success is attributable to the increasing efficiency of the world's financial institutions as finance has proved to be one of the most important causal factors in economic performance. In a series of insightful essays, financial and economic historians examine how financial innovations from the seventeenth century to the present have continually challenged established institutional arrangements, forcing change and adaptation by governments, financial intermediaries, and financial markets. Where these have been successful, wealth creation and growth have followed. When they failed, growth slowed and sometimes economic decline has followed. These essays illustrate the difficulties of co-ordinating financial innovations in order to sustain their benefits for the wider economy, a theme that will be of interest to policy makers as well as economic historians.