Queen's Speech: Government's next steps

The Queen's Speech has set out the Government's proposed legislative agenda for the next session of Parliament.

A total of 32 new Bills have been proposed, ensuring a busy schedule for Parliamentarians in the run-up to the general election which is widely thought to be next year.

The key measures in the Queen's Speech are:

Home Office

• Identity cards - moves towards the introduction of identity cards by 2008.
  
• Drugs tests - Tougher action against drug use and the anti-social behaviour problems it causes. The new law will allow the police to test minor offenders on arrest rather than charge, and will strengthen the law against drug dealers. Addicts could also be forced into treatment and council tenants whose homes are used by drug addicts evicted.
  
• Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) - A Bill to create a new crime agency - Britain's version of the FBI.
  
• Management of Offenders Bill - This aims to reduce re-offending and will put the new National Offender Management Service on a legal footing, and "ensure that new advances in technology are used to better protect the public and victims of crime".
  
• Correctional services - A merger could bring together the probation and prison services to create a single body to punish and rehabilitate offenders.
  
• Charities Bill - Modernises the law governing the voluntary sector, with a new definition of charitable work.
  
• Draft Youth Justice Bill - Plans will be set out to "improve the operation and effectiveness of the youth justice system", including more community sentences and improved rehabilitation schemes.
  
• Draft Counter Terrorism Bill - To ensure that the security agencies "have all the powers they need to deal effectively with modern, changing forms of terrorism". Details have yet to emerge.
  
• Draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill - Reform the laws that govern prosecutions of companies for manslaughter offences. It will apply when there are "very serious failings in the strategic management of a company's activities that have resulted in death".
  
• Animal experiments - New action against militant activists who target those conducting research on animals.

HM Treasury

• Inland Revenue and Customs Merger Bill - This will merge the existing separate bodies of HM Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue. Ministers believe it will lead to a more efficient system of tax collection, improving revenue collection. The proposed merger is already underway in practice.
  
• Finance Bill - To enact next year's Budget.

Department of Constitutional Affairs

• Criminal Defence Service Bill - Reforms legal aid "to ensure the best use of legal aid in order to provide value for money for the taxpayer", with estimated savings of £35 million a year. It is intended to ensure people who can afford for their legal defence do so.
  
• Inquiries Bill - Will modernise the system for holding public inquiries, with the aim of making the reviews quicker and fairer for witnesses.
  
• Judicial Pensions Bill - Maintain the current value of judges' pensions, exempting them from changes being introduced for everyone else as part of this year's Finance Act.
  
• Draft Courts and Tribunals Bill - clarifying the law regulating bailiffs and simplifying the tribunals system.
  
• Mental Capacity Bill - Carried over from the last session, it sets out a statutory framework for protecting the interests of people who might lack capacity to make their own decisions through mental illness or disability.
  
• Constitutional Reform Bill - Carried over from the last session, it will abolish the post of Lord Chancellor and create a new supreme court in place of the judicial committee of the House of Lords.

Department of Trade and Industry

• Draft Company Law Reform Bill - Will implement the recent company law review, clarifying financial reporting rules and the duties of directors.
  
• Consumer Credit - Allowing people to claim cash back after falling victim to extortionate lenders with an independent ombudsman to make decisions about recompense. Lenders will have to explain charges before and during an agreement.
  
• Equality Bill - This will aim to extend protection against discrimination on grounds of religious faith.

Department of Transport

• Road Safety - Police will be given new powers to tackle drink driving and uninsured drivers. Variable speeding fines would depend on the severity of the offence and police could be given powers to use roadside breath test evidence in court. A new law would give drivers caught using mobile phones three penalty points on their licence, with a fine doubled to £60.
  
• Railways - Will implement plans set out in the recent white paper to abolish the Strategic Rail Authority and transfer more powers to the Department of Transport.
  
• School Transport Bill - Will allow local authorities to "provide innovative and safe school transport".
  
• Crossrail Bill - This will authorise the construction of the Crossrail transport scheme across London.

Department of Work and Pensions

• Disability and Discrimination Bill - Reforming the rights of disabled people, extending existing laws to cover transport. It will also extend the definition of disability to include those with progressive diseases such as HIV, cancer and multiple sclerosis.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

• National Lottery - Streamlining the process for applying to get lottery cash by establishing a Big Lottery fund and giving the public more say in how cash is distributed.
  
• Gambling Bill - Carried over from the last session, this controversial measure liberalises the regulations covering casinos and gambling.

Department for Education and Skills

• Education Bill - To give schools greater freedom, streamline the school inspection process and introduce a new three-year budgeting system so headteachers can plan in advance.
  
• Child Benefit - Extends financial support to 16 to 19-year-olds in training and further education.
  
• Child Contact and Adoption Bill - Will reform the laws governing child welfare when parents separate giving the courts flexible powers to enable contact arrangements and ensure agreements are enforced. It will also clarify the law on inter-country adoptions to address child welfare concerns.
  
• Education reform - A white paper will be published on plans to reform 14 to 19 education.
  
• Youth - A green paper will be published on "youth and young people", outlining efforts to ensure joined up services for children.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

• Animal Welfare - Will increase the penalties for abusing animals and improve standards. It pulls together over 20 existing pieces of animal welfare legislation in England and Wales. There is speculation that Ministers could use this Bill to amend the Hunting Act to delay the ban on hunting until July 2006.
  
• Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill - Will give local councils more powers to tackle problems such as fly-posting, noise pollution and abandoned vehicles. It could let town and parish councils issue on-the-spot fines for vandalism, graffiti and dropping litter and householders could be charged for unsorted rubbish.
  
• Draft Modernising Rural Delivery Bill - Merges English Nature with parts of the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service.
  
• Draft Commons Bill - Provides new protection for land identified as part of the "rural cultural identity of England and Wales".

Foreign Office

• EU Bill - Laws setting the rules for a vote on the draft new EU constitution which could take place in spring 2006. Referendum questions will have to be vetted by the Electoral Commission and by Parliament.
  
• International Organisations Bill - A "small, technical bill" to meet a range of outstanding international obligations.

Wales Office

• Transport (Wales) Bill - Will give the Welsh Assembly new powers over some transport issues.
  
• Public Service Ombudsman (Wales) Bill - Reforms the ombudsman service in Wales, merging three existing roles into one "super ombudsman".