This week the ballot is taking place for MPs seeking the right to introduce a Private Member's Bill during the next parliamentary session.
This gives backbench MPs, who are drawn at the top of the ballot, the chance to introduce their own legislation into Parliament.
For comments from MPs, please click here.
You can also add your proposals using the comment form on the right of this page.
Views from Stakeholders
Cross Party Inquiry into Childhood Leukaemia and EMF
Children with Leukaemia Private Member's Bill
The objective of the Bill:
To amend legislation in order to prevent new homes and schools being built near existing high voltage overhead power lines and to prevent new high voltage overhead power lines being built near existing homes and schools, at distances of 30m for 132 kV power lines and 60m for 275 and 400 kV power lines.
The reason for the Bill:
In 2005, a study funded by the Department of Health, The Draper Report (Draper et al, 2005), found that children living near to high voltage power lines (the transmission lines and pylons that make up the National Grid) had a 69 per cent increased risk of developing leukaemia.
Many scientists believe this association is related to exposure to Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) created by power lines. These fields decrease with distance; figures from National Grid suggest that 60m is the average distance from 275 and 400 kV lines and 30m from 132 kV lines for fields to decrease sufficiently.
Following the Draper Report, the Department of Health set up a stakeholder advisory group on EMF (SAGE) to make recommendations to government on practical precautionary measures to reduce public EMF exposure.
SAGE issued a report in April 2007, which identified a building ban within 60m of 275kV and 400 kV power lines and within 30m of 132 kV power lines as the ‘best available option’ for substantial reduction in EMF exposure. The government referred the SAGE report to the Health Protection Agency for their advice and has yet to make a statement on whether the government will implement the option described in the SAGE Report.
This issue has also been examined in detail by MPs who formed the Cross Party Inquiry into Childhood Leukaemia and EMF in 2006. As Chair of the Inquiry, Dr Howard Stoate MP, along with Dr Ian Gibson MP, Sandra Gidley MP, Nick Hurd MP and Michael Connarty MP spent a year considering the issue in detail and published its report in Westminster in July 2007. The inquiry recommended that the government introduce a ban on building new homes and schools within 60 metres of high voltage power lines to protect children’s health.
For more information please contact:
Chantelle Roberts
Campaigns Officer
CHILDREN with LEUKAEMIA
51 Great Ormond Street
London WC1N 3JQ
020 7404 0808
chantelle@leukaemia.org
British Humanist Association
Religious Education
A bill to make religious education a subject on the National Curriculum to replace the 151 locally determined RE syllabuses currently in use, to improve quality and consistency of provision on a national level.
Protection of public service users
A bill to amend the Human Rights Act and anti-discrimination law to ensure that staff involved in service provision and members of the public provided with a public service through a religious organisation contracted to provide it are protected in the same way as they would be if their service was provided by a non-religious organisation. This is not currently the case.
Marriage Law
A bill to make humanist weddings legal marriages in England and Wales, as they are now in Scotland.
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
We are supportive of the objectives of a Houses in Multiple Occupation (Planning) Bill, as introduced by MP Alan Whitehead in the last session of Parliament.
More information is available here.
Law Commission
The Rules Against Perpetuities and Excessive Accumulations
This draft Bill implements the Law Commission’s 1998 Report entitled 'The Rules against Perpetuities and Excessive Accumulations' (LawCom number 251, HC579). The report made important recommendations for legal reform which, although accepted by government, have yet to be implemented.
The rule against perpetuities limits the extent to which a property owner can control the devolution of that property into the future. The rule is extremely complicated and applies to the tying up of property by various means, including trusts, options, rights of pre-emption and easements. It is capable of causing significant difficulties in practice, particularly in the context of commercial transactions. The report recommends that the rule should continue to apply, but in a simplified form and only in circumstances where it performs an essential role. The report also recommends the repeal of the connected rule restricting accumulations of income (except in relation to charitable trusts).
Government indicated its acceptance of the Law Commission’s recommendations in response to a Parliamentary Question in 2001 (Hansard; 6 March 2001: Column WA 17). However, government since then has been unable to find parliamentary time to introduce legislation. Most recently, a private peers' Bill was refused permission to proceed by the LP Committee on grounds of the pressure of work before both Houses.
Although technical, the reforms put forward by the Law Commission and contained in the draft Bill are of great practical importance and their implementation would be widely welcomed.
Law Reform (Succession) Bill (effect of the forfeiture rule)
This remedies a particular unfairness in succession law, implementing the Law Commission’s 2005 report, 'The Forfeiture Rule and the Law of Succession' (No 295).
In 2000, the Court of Appeal heard a case in which a son murdered both his parents (who died intestate). The son forfeited his rights to the estate. This was clearly right and proper as the forfeiture rules prevents a murderer from benefiting from a crime. The problem was that the Court found that the son's son (the deceased's grandson) was also disinherited, and the property passed to a more distant relation. There was general agreement that this was arbitrary and unfair, as the father’s crimes were visited on his children. However, the court was bound by the letter of the legislation.
The same problem could arise in other circumstances. There is confusion over what should happen to property when one spouse kills another, or where wills fail to deal with forfeiture issues.
The Bill states that where a potential heir cannot inherit, or is disqualified from inheriting, property should be distributed as if that person had died.
The Bill is likely to affect a few cases every year. It will prevent costly and bitter litigation, expensive in terms of both cost and emotional trauma. It will protect some especially vulnerable children and prevent UK laws from being open to challenge on the grounds of human rights.
Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Bill
This Bill implements the 2001 report from the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission, entitled 'Third Parties - Rights against Insurers' (Law Com no 272, Scot Law Com no 184). It would replace the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930.
The 1930 Act applies where one person, or company, is insured against some liability and they subsequently incur that liability to a third party. If the insured becomes insolvent the 1930 Act transfers the rights against the insurer to the third party.
Though the current legislation is helpful for some third parties, it has serious flaws that need to be remedied. One of the more glaring omissions from the 1930 scheme is that insurance for legal or medical expenses is not covered.
This undermines the increased use of insurance to fund litigation and there is no serious justification for continuing to exclude them. In addition, the procedures required by the 1930 Act are tortuous and can require a number of stages of litigation for the third party to benefit. The Bill maintains the basic scheme of the 1930 Act, but streamlines procedures and updates the law to include all types of liability insurance. It also extends the definition of those included within the legislation, to include all corporate and incorporated bodies.
The Department of Constitutional Affairs, as it was then called, accepted the report in principle in July 2002. It subsequently consulted on whether it could be implemented by a Regulatory Reform Order, but the Law Officers concluded that primary legislation would be needed for some aspects of the Bill.
Respondents to the consultation paper on the 1930 Act overwhelmingly confirmed that the deficiencies in the current law are not merely theoretical but cause real hardship. This Bill would therefore markedly improve the law.
Carers UK
Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill 2007
Carers UK is supporting the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign (EDCM) in promoting the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill 2007.
The Bill would place a specific duty on local authorities to provide short break care for families with disabled children who provide a high level of care.
The need for the Bill is highlighted in a recent Breaking Point survey by Mencap, which found that eight out of 10 carers of disabled children have felt close to, or reached, breaking point because of a lack of support. One parent told EDCM: "I had to have a breakdown to get help. My children almost ended up in care, yet three hours [short break care] a week helped prevent this. What did that cost?"
Last year EDCM was supported by Gary Streeter MP, who sponsored the 2006 Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill. Gary Streeter's Bill contributed to the government announcement of £280 million in the Aiming High for Disabled Children review to improve the provision of short break care.
However, families still need and deserve a right to a break. Gary Streeter told EDCM: "I strongly support this new Bill. Until each local authority has a duty to provide adequate short breaks for these hard-pressed families, we will not have finished this race."
Information about the Bill is available from the EDCM campaign team on 020 7843 6082 or info@edcm.org.uk, or from www.edcm.org.uk/righttobreaks
MS Society
Reform of Wheelchair Services Bill
A Bill seeking to impose duties upon NHS wheelchair services to deliver wheelchairs in a fair and timely manner.
Rigid eligibility criteria for NHS Wheelchair Services means that people with complex and fluctuating needs, such as those with multiple sclerosis (MS), are often denied any state assistance.
Furthermore, due to a lack of funds, organisational inefficiencies, and short-term commissioning practices, there can be wholly unacceptable delays to the process of being referred, assessed and actually receiving the equipment.
The MS Society continues to receive information that waiting times in some parts of the country are stretching beyond three years, which, given the unpredictability and progressive nature of MS, is a completely unsuitable period of time to expect people to wait.
The use of eligibility criteria has become a mechanism for rationing resources and not for benefiting the patient. People with complex and fluctuating needs find themselves excluded from rigid criteria that do not take into account the wider needs of the individual and apply arbitrary rules as to who is entitled to help.
This Bill will stop Wheelchair Services from pursuing 'blanket' eligibility criteria – generally based on frequency of use or whether usage is for indoors or outdoors – which unfairly discriminates against people with complex and fluctuating conditions. Instead, Wheelchair Services will be required to apply eligibility criteria on the basis of the needs of the individual to lead an independent life.
The latest report on wheelchair provision from the Department of Health, 'Out and about - Wheelchairs as part of a whole systems approach to independence', identified a number of significant problems with the financing of Wheelchair Services. In particular, wheelchair managers are forced to focus on balancing resources over the annual budget cycle, rather than providing equipment on the basis of local need.
The absence of national targets for wheelchair services can largely be blamed for this situation, and this Bill will compel health authorities to allocate resources on the basis of overall need by attaching sensible minimum standards in the provision of wheelchairs.
For more information, please contact Matthew Dodd, Policy and Campaigns Researcher, MS Society, 020 8438 0700.
Royal Academy of Engineering
Privacy and Security of Personal Information
The Royal Academy of Engineering believes that current developments in the technologies for collecting and storing data can present both great benefits and potential harms. The development and deployment of such technologies must be closely monitored to ensure that their impacts are understood and managed. Therefore, the Academy supports the following three-clause Bill:
1. Organisations that collect personal data, especially public sector organisations, must have strict and auditable procedures for ensuring the security of that data and procedures for compensating individuals if data is lost or leaked.
2. Individuals should be able to have the benefits of services like London Transport’s Oyster card or shop loyalty cards without having to give away personal details. Registering a card to an individual name can create a record of a person’s shopping habits and everyday movements, so there should always be the option to have such cards without registering them.
3. A 'digital charter' should be developed outlining individuals' rights and expectations on how electronic information about them will be collected, stored and used.
Views from MPs
Brian H. Donohoe
If I win the ballot, I shall put forward a Bill banning the dropping of chewing gum in public places. Most members of the public do dispose of their chewing gum responsibly but there are still a significant majority that think it acceptable behaviour to leave their gum wherever they choose; be it on the street, on benches, even on the backs of chairs on public transport!
Discarded chewing gum is not only unhygienic but also incredibly difficult to remove; once dry it sticks firmly to its surface and does not degrade over time. Currently, removal costs fall largely to local authorities which can prove time consuming as well as economically and environmentally restraining. My Bill would ask for a complete ban on the dropping of chewing gum in public places and would have the matter treated as a criminal offence.
John Robertson
If I am successful in the ballot for the Private Member’s Bill it is my intention to submit a bill on Employment Retention. I introduced the bill in two 10 minute rule bills last year and the year before but they have never gone further than this.
This bill would provide a statutory right to rehabilitation leave for newly disabled people and people whose existing impairments change. Each year around 25,000 people leave employment due to work-related illness. This bill would help retrain these people helping them back into employment, encourage business to adapt to new technologies to help such employees and would be one step forward to help the Government achieve the 80% employment rate target.
Keith Vaz
I am proposing a Bill that will amend existing legislation to allow all-black short lists in Parliamentary selections. The precedent was made for this by the Labour Government when existing legislation was amended to allow for all-women short-lists. It would not make such lists mandatory in any way; rather it would provide the option in areas where such lists would be beneficial.
Anne Macintosh
Following my previous popular Private Member’s Bill on defending properties against burglaries, I would introduce a Bill to help reduce shoplifting and other crimes against retailers. The current figures show that this year there has been an increase of 50% of incidents of physical violence against retail staff. The Government’s attitude of not protecting the rights and properties of the victims, and preventing the police from investigating retail crime, leaves retailers feeling so aggrieved that they do not report a large number of incidents. There must be change: retail crime is not victimless.
John Redwood
I would propose a bill to hold a referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty. This would give all MPs who promised such a referendum in their manifestoes in 2005 the opportunity to vote for such a necessary democratic discussion of major constitutional changes that will affect the UK and limit the power of future governments to carry out their electors’ wishes.
Rob Wilson
I made a promise to my constituents in the 2005 election campaign that if I was successful I would introduce a Bill to reduce the 24 week abortion limit.
Dan Rogerson
I would seek to bring forward legislation to limit the proliferation of second homes. Neither the Conservatives nor the Government seem to take this problem at all seriously. Second homes - at too substantial a level - drive up house prices, making local homes unaffordable for people who were born and grew up in Cornwall and other hotspot areas. Some villages see over 50% of their housing stock sold to people who take flight to the cities for the weekdays and the winters. In turn, their local shops, Post Offices and pubs fail, and the phrase "ghost-town Britain" is coined. I have long believed that communities and their councils should be able to control the number of second homes in any one area - it is simple to do this by introducing a new Use Class into the planning system, so that homeowners wanting to sell their houses other than to people who live in the full time would first have to apply for a Change of Use.
Sharon Hodgson
Everyone agrees that a healthy main meal improves pupils' attention and behaviour and so helps increase educational standards. The Government is improving school canteens and the quality of meals as well as the take-up of currently free meals. My Bill would go the whole hog and provide free, universal and healthy school meals, with a lunchtime lock-in to prevent under-16s popping to the chippy. Our pupils need brain food not fast food. It will cost more money but would be an investment that will pay longer term dividends for society as a whole. It would also complement anti-obesity and pro-fitness strategies.
Eric Illsley
I would like to bring forward a Trade Union Law Repeal Bill to remove some of the Trade Union Legislation which was brought in during the 1980s and which is now no longer needed. In particular the Political Fund Ballots legislation which was a huge waste of time and money for the Trade Unions. Not one ballot was ever lost and there was no reciprocal requirement placed upon Businesses making donations to other political parties.
John Pugh
I would introduce a bill to Prevent Wilful Media Misrepresentation. There is a need to restore respect for the media as part of the improvement of civic life. One way of doing this subject to de minimis and other appropriate exceptions would be to make it legally mandatory for the media to correct serious misrepresentation where it can be argued that they were clearly in possession of known - but undisclosed - facts which would substantially have altered the impression a reasonable person might form from coverage. This is worth flagging up as the media are a political issue not just a mechanism for reporting on political life.
Hugh Robertson
I would bring forward a bill to encourage more young people to take up sport - probably by allowing gift aid on junior sports club subscriptions to incentivise clubs to recruit more young people.
Gisela Stuart
I would put forward a bill which would prohibit the sale of fireworks to the public. I would allow organised pubic fireworks to continue and for a number of specified celebrations the prohibition would be lifted a few days before the event, and fireworks could go on sale for those. Why? The current law tries to strike a balance - but enforcement is patchy and it is a continued struggle to contain those who use fireworks for mischief.
David Howarth
I would put forward my Fixed Term Parliaments Bill. After the events of September I think there is an appetite on all sides of the House to think about whether it makes any sense to allow the prime minister to choose the date of the election, and, given the macho posturing on all sides about an autumn election, the government's offer of a vote on the floor of the House on dissolution does not look adequate.
David Taylor
If selected I would put forward a bill getting rid of cigarette machines that make cigarettes available and accessible to young people under the age of 18.
Denis MacShane
I would propose a bill to make registration with local authorities and electoral register obligatory for all access to public services like the NHS, schools or benefits. £26 million is given to the Electoral Commission each year but the more money we give the quango the fewer people vote. Instead, we should make having an election number something that everyone cherishes and knows by heart with ceremonies for all 18 year olds as they get put on the register. Possession of an election card and quoting the number will be an absolute prerequisite to get NHS treatment, enroll a child at school, and access welfare benefits.
Rob Marris
The Scottish National Party would like a referendum on independence for Scotland. In the 1995 Québec separation referendum, on a 94% turnout, 50.58% voted "No" to separation, 49.42% "Yes". As a result, the federal Parliament passed the Clarity Act 2000.
Before a referendum on the future of Scotland, the federal House of Commons must decide if the proposed question is clear enough. If it is not, there will be no negotiations on separation. Secondly, after the referendum, the House of Commons must decide if there has been a "clear expression of a will by a clear majority of the population of that province". If there has not, there will be no negotiations on separation. The UK needs a similar Act now - not on the eve of a referendum in Scotland, nor in the aftermath of one, but now.
Nick Palmer
I am preparing a Small Print Bill with the help of Age Concern, The Plain English Campaign and others, to prevent the use of small print to fulfill legal obligations. It doesn't outlaw small print for routine information, nor does it create new requirements for consumer information, but it ensures that existing requirements are presented in a way that the consumer can actually read them
Barbara Keeley
I would introduce a bill to require GPs to identify and support carers by offering health-checks and referring carers for an assessment of their needs The bill would also place a duty on schools and local authorities to have a policy to support young carers and a to ensure that support services are offered to the young carer's family as an alternative to the support provided by the child or young person.
One in 10 people in my constituency are carers are caring can have an impact on their health, so it is vital that GPs recognise and support carers' needs. Schools and local authorities also need to have policies in respect of young carers, who are the most hidden of carers and who often experience bullying and exclusion at school as their lives are so different from those of young people.
Paul Farrelly
I support the Temporary and Agency Workers Bill, which trades unions and many of us here will be pressing is taken up again.
Paul Beresford
Further legislation as part of my campaign to improve the legislation dealing with paedophiles.
Tom Brake
I will consult my constituents and campaigning organisations before making a decision.
