Robin Cook, the leader of the House of Commons, who has a growing reputation as a reformer, has now given them the lead role in scrutinising draft legislation.
1.45pm: Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, gives evidence to a committee scrutinising the draft local audit bill.
The British government's proposed anti-slavery laws need to be simpler, stronger and far more focused on victims if the UK is to tackle the "heinous crime" of slavery, the committee tasked with scrutinising the draft legislation has warned.
The Lib Dem superlawyer was all but purring as he read the government's response to the work of a joint parliamentary committee, which has been scrutinising a draft bill on the issue.
A new constitutional court is to be formed, an independent prosecutor appointed and a measure of devolution enacted.The National Constituent Assembly, an independent body that has scrutinised the drafting of the document, says it should be rejected.
From the London Olympics and gambling to children's rights and shipwrecks, the list of draft bills scrutinised by the Prince of Wales and his officials reads like the busiest Whitehall portfolio imaginable.
In fact, both the Maastricht and the Amsterdam treaties have awarded increasing powers to the parliament, allowing it to veto legislation that the commission drafts, to scrutinise spending much more closely, even to reject the nomination of a new president of the commission.
Binney gave evidence on Wednesday to the committee of MPs and peers scrutinising Theresa May's draft investigatory powers bill, which will codify and extend the existing bulk collection powers of the intelligence agencies, including the storage of records of every website or internet connection made by British citizens.
A Financial Services Authority report into what went wrong at Royal Bank of Scotland before the £45bn taxpayer bailout is facing further delay after leading lawyer Bill Knight and City grandee Sir David Walker were drafted into help scrutinise the document.
More than £2bn was wiped off the value of Britain's biggest retailer on Monday after its new chief executive told the City that forensic accountants and lawyers had been drafted in to scrutinise its books in the wake of a warning from a whistleblower that payments from suppliers were being misbooked and business costs were being glossed over.
