Details of the future years business in parliament set out in yesterdays Queens Speech by Her Majesty

HM The Queen has delivered the Queen’s Speech 2016.

 

This is a One Nation Queen’s Speech from a One Nation Government. It uses the opportunity of a strengthening economy to deliver security for working people, increase life chances for the most disadvantaged and strengthen our national security.

 

Deliver security for working people

This is the next step in our long-term economic plan for our country. Whether it is continuing to bring the public finances under control so that Britain lives within its means; delivering the infrastructure that British business needs to carry on creating jobs; making our country a world leader in the digital economy; spreading prosperity across our country and building a Northern Powerhouse; or supporting aspiration by promoting home ownership, this is a Queen’s Speech that delivers on the Government’s promise of providing security at every stage of people’s lives.  

• Digital Economy Bill. To help create jobs, we will make Britain a world leader in the digital economy, with new obligations on broadband providers to make sure everyone in Britain has access to an affordable high speed internet connection. 
• Modern Transport Bill. This Bill will put Britain at the forefront of the modern transport revolution, so that we create new jobs and fuel economic growth around the country. It will include legislation to enable the future development of the UK’s first commercial spaceports and new laws to make the UK ready to pioneer driverless cars. 
• Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This Bill will reform planning and give local communities more power and control to shape their own area. That means we can build more houses and give everyone who works hard the chance to buy their own home. 
• Local Growth and Jobs Bill. We want to make sure every part of our country shares in our rising prosperity. This Bill is the biggest change in local finance for decades, giving local authorities full control of the money they raise through business rates, so they can attract business and investment to their local areas. It will include a transfer of up to £13 billion to councils through allowing them to retain 100 per cent of the business rates they collect.

Increase life chances for the most disadvantaged

At the heart of this Queen’s Speech are bold reforms that tackle some of the deepest social problems in our country and remove all barriers to opportunity. Giving children in care the best possible start in life, reforming our prisons; transforming the education system, and helping people save – this is a Queen’s Speech aimed at giving everyone in our country the chance to get on. 

• Children and Social Work Bill. This Bill aims to improve the standard of social work and opportunities for young people in care in England, so that we give all of them the hope of a better life. It will include changes to the considerations that courts must take into account in adoption decisions, tipping the balance in favour of permanent adoption where that is the right thing for the child, and new system of regulating social workers. 

• Education for All Bill. This Bill is the next phase of our transformation of education, extending the principles of freedom and accountability across the country so that we encourage excellence everywhere and give every child the best start in life. It will include new laws to expand the academies programme in the poorest performing local authority areas and a new funding formula to deliver fair funding for every school and pupil in the country.
• Higher Education and Research Bill. This Bill encourages the new universities that will help educate the next generation, so that we give more young people – from all backgrounds – the opportunity to go to university. It will include measures to make it easier for new high quality universities to open and new requirements on all universities to publish detailed information about application, offer and progression rates to put a spotlight on social mobility. 

• Prisons and Courts Reform Bill. This Bill represents the biggest reform of our prisons since Victorian times, ensuring they are not just a place of punishment but also rehabilitation, so everyone has the chance to get on the right track. It will include new powers for prison governors to allow them unprecedented levels of control over all aspects of prison management. 

• Lifetime Savings Bill. This Bill helps people to save and make plans for the future, so we build the financial resilience and security of people across the country – especially the young and those on low incomes. It will include the new Help to Save scheme and a new Lifetime ISA for young people.  

• National Citizen Service Bill. This Bill will see the expansion of the Government’s hugely successful National Citizen Service so more young people can mix with people of other backgrounds, and learn what it means to serve their community. 

Strengthen our national security

The first duty of Government is to keep our country safe.  So this is a Queen’s Speech that invests in Britain’s armed forces, secures the long-term future of our nuclear deterrent and gives our security and intelligence agencies the powers they need to keep us safe. 

• Bill of Rights. This Bill will support and reinforce Britain’s long-standing commitment to human rights and restore common sense to the way human rights law is applied. It will include measures to reform and modernise the UK human rights framework, and protections against abuse of the system and misuse of human rights laws.

• Counter-Extremism and Safeguarding Bill. This Bill gives law enforcement agencies new powers to protect vulnerable people – including children – from those who seek to brainwash them with extremism propaganda, so we can build a stronger society around our shared liberal values of tolerance and respect.

• Criminal Finances Bill. This Bill will cement the UK’s leading role in the fight against international corruption, cracking down on money laundering and people profiting from crime, so that we root out corruption. It will include a new criminal offence for corporations that fail to stop staff facilitating tax evasion.
• Policing and Crime Bill. This Bill is the next phase in our reform of the police, reforming out-of-date complaints and disciplinary procedures, so we increase public confidence in the people who keep us safe. It will include a new duty to collaborate on all three emergency services, to improve efficiency and effectiveness. 

• Investigatory Powers Bill. This Bill will fill holes in our security apparatus so that we give law enforcement agencies the tools they need to protect the public in the digital age, while building confidence in the public that powers are operated sensibly.