Ministers have pledged to give "very careful" consideration to calls for a human rights commission.

The government said that a joint committee report which called for a commission would be taken seriously by ministers.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal told peers that the report, which had taken two years to compile, contained a series of "carefully crafted recommendations".

It would receive "anxious consideration across government", she said on Thursday.

"There is much which deserves careful consideration in that report. I hope that the report will do just what it is doing today; which is exciting a lot of debate," she said.

Labour peer Lord Clinton-Davies argued that the body should have a wider role beyond simply being a rights watchdog.

"There is a very decisive need for a central independent body, such as a human rights commission to oversee an education programme particularly in schools," he said.

Asthal also defended the Human Rights Act. "It has been shown to be an extremely well-crafted act to which we should show extreme pride," she said.