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Copy No. 31

C. P. (49) 240

28TH NOVEMBER, 1949

CABINET

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME: 1950 SESSION

Memorandum by the Lord President of the Council

The

At their meeting on 16th May (C. M. (49) 35th Conclusions, Minute 1) the Cabinet considered a provisional legislative programme for the 1950 Session (C. P. (49) 104) which had been drawn up by the Future Legislation Committee. Cabinet agreed that the drafting of the Bills included in this programme should proceed, provided that policy had been approved, and they invited the Future Legislation Committee to review from time to time the progress made with their preparation.

2.

The Committee have since carried out a review of the provisional programme in consultation with the Ministers con- cerned, and they now submit for consideration by the Cabinet the programme set out in Groups I to VI of Annex A to this memorandum.

3.

In view of the present uncertainty regarding the length of the 1950 Session, and of the fact that even if the Session ran its full length the time available for legislation would probably not exceed 30 days, the Committee decided that the only possible course would be to submit a list of Bills which seemed to them appropriate for introduction in that Session. They felt that if this was approved by the Cabinet it could afterwards be left to the Legislation Committee, as the new Session proceeded, to take such steps as seemed to them expedient in the light of events to regulate the flow of new legislation.

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When drawing up the programme the Committee were. reminded of the absence from it of any attractive Bills, and Ministers were accordingly invited to suggest any Bills of a more popular nature which might be added to the programme in the event of the Session being a lengthy one. Notes on Bills suggested for this purpose are embodied in Annex B.

5.

The Committee felt that the special attention of the Cabinet should be drawn to the following points:-

(a) No progress has been possible so far with the prepar-

ation of the Court Martial Procedure Bill because the interim report of the Pilcher Committee is not yet available. Apart from the fact that the Bill seems likely to be highly conten- tious, the Committee thought it unlikely that it could be introduced during the 1950 Session because the drafting of a major Bill of this type is a lengthy process and it could hardly be ready early enough to ensure its passage.