From July 2010 to July 2016 I was employed part-time as Deputy Counsel in the Office of the Speaker’s Counsel in the House of Commons, working on domestic legislation.
My principal responsibilities involved advising the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments in its scrutiny of secondary legislation produced by Government departments and others.
In August 2016, until the end of 2022, I was appointed as Counsel for Domestic Legislation in the House of Commons. I had responsibility for advising the Joint and Select Committees on Statutory Instruments, examining private Bills, advising the Speaker on English Votes for English Laws, and a range of other legislation matters.
Oral/Written Evidence
On Tuesday 12 December 2023 I gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Committee on Standards to answer questions about my Annual Report for 2022-23 as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. You can see the session here – Parliamentlive.tv – Committee on Standards.
On Tuesday 26 October 2021 I gave oral evidence to the Public Bill Committee on the Subsidy Control Bill, concentrating on the devolution implications and mechanisms for interaction with the devolved institutions – you can hear my evidence here (15:40 – 16:00) – https://parliamentlive.tv/
The transcript of my evidence to the Select Committee is available here
The House of Commons Justice Committee report into COVID-19 and the Criminal Law (HC 71 24 September 2021) quotes my written evidence to the Committee in relation to communication of offences, clarity of offences, and the use of civil penalty notices.
On Tuesday 14 September 2021 I gave oral evidence to the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee about the draft Downstream Oil Resilience Bill – see https://parliamentlive.tv/
My written evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee Inquiry on COVID-19 and the Criminal Law was published on 21 April 2021 and can be read here https://committees.
I gave written evidence to the Joint Committee on the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, printed as FTP0010 – Fixed-Term Parliaments Act
Witnesses Daniel Greenberg (Counsel for Domestic Legislation, Office of Speaker’s Counsel at House of Commons) and published on 21 January 2021 – see https://committees.
I gave written evidence to the Commons Select Committee’s inquiry into contempt of Parliament, printed as SCC0021 – Select Committees and Contempts Witnesses Daniel Greenberg (Counsel for Domestic Legislation at Office of Speaker’s Counsel, House of Commons) published on 14 July 2020 – see https://committees.parliament.
On 14 July 2020 the Commons Privileges Committee published a memorandum by me on punishing contempt of Parliament: you can read the transcript of my evidence here.
In my capacity as Counsel for Domestic Legislation, House of Commons, I gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on exiting the European Union – see https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/4b277cc5-df97-4ae9-a1eb-6ecc24cde6be
On 18 November 2020 I gave oral evidence to the Policy Exchange Reform of Government Commission – for details of the Commission see https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/policy-exchange-reform-of-government-commission/ – my written evidence focused on the role of advisers in government, and the oral evidence touched on that and other matters relating to the quality of the public service.
The House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution reported on the Legislative Process: The Passage of Bills Through Parliament in its 24th Report of Session 2017-19 (published 8 July 2019 – HL Paper 393); the Report quotes my oral evidence to the Committee in a number of places, including my proposal for a new kind of intervener status on Bills to allow stakeholder groups a real opportunity to influence the passage of legislation directly, without having to risk the Chinese Whispers game of briefing MPs and peers.
On Wednesday 13 March 2019 in my capacity as Examiner of Private Bills, House of Commons, I sat on the Private Bill Examination for HS2 (Second Additional Provision to the High Speed Rail (West Midlands – Crewe) Bill) – see https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/9cc8f7a4-1e66-4360-8b9d-a739f5c84ce5.
In my capacity as Counsel for Domestic Legislation, House of Commons, I gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on exiting the European Union – see https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/4b277cc5-df97-4ae9-a1eb-6ecc24cde6be
On 6 February 2019 I gave oral evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee as part of their pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill.
On Wednesday 30 January 2019 in my capacity as Counsel for Domestic Legislation in the House of Commons I gave oral evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee as part of their pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill.
On 21 November in my House of Commons capacity I advised the Commons Regulatory Reform Committee at its joint meeting with the Lords Committee considering the Draft Legislative Reform (Horseracing Betting Levy) Order 2018 – you can see details of the inquiry here: https://www.parliament.uk/
On 13 June 2018 I gave oral evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee Inquiry into the legislative process. I spoke about the myth of the “line by line” scrutiny of Bills in Committee in both Houses, and suggested that members of the public should be able to table amendments to Bills directly. You can see the evidence session here.
On 13 December 2017 the Expert Panel on Assembly Electoral Reform published its report on the way forward for the National Assembly for Wales – A Parliament that Works for Wales. I gave written evidence to the panel and am delighted that they agree, in particular, with my comments on the importance of building effective post-legislative scrutiny into the future model: the National Assembly is already a world-leader in the methodology of legislative scrutiny and more rigorous post-legislative scrutiny would be a further valuable enhancement.
On 25 October 2017 the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution published its 4th Report of Session 2017–19 (HL Paper 27) – The Legislative Process: Preparing Legislation for Parliament; I gave oral evidence to the inquiry, and the report quotes me about: unnecessary legislation; the involvement of stakeholders in legislative preparation; policy preparation; publication of legislation; incoherent legislation; the role of Parliamentary Counsel; and the role of Ministers.
On 2 May 2017 the House of Commons Procedure Committee published written evidence from me to its inquiry into Delegated powers and the ‘Great Repeal Bill’, as part of its 7th Report for Session 2016-17 Matters for the Procedure Committee in the 2017 Parliament (HC 1091).
On 2 February 2017 I attended the Finance Committee of the National Assembly for Wales as a Technical Adviser; the Committee considered written evidence submitted by me at their request on the Landfill Disposals Tax (Wales) Bill following my informal session with them on 11 January.
On 23 November 2016 I gave oral evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution in its inquiry into the legislative process; you can read the transcript of my evidence session here.
The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s 32nd Report of Session 2015-16 (Response to the Strathclyde Review: Effective parliamentary scrutiny of secondary legislation – HL Paper 128 – 14 April 2016) quotes my evidence (para.85) on the difference between the balance of the two Houses and the balance of Parliament and the Executive.
The House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee’s 25th Report of Session 2015-16 (Special Report: Response to the Strathclyde Review – HL Paper 119 – 23 March 2016) quotes my evidence to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (para.72) on the difference between the balance of the two Houses and the balance of Parliament and the Executive.
My evidence to the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee on the Strathclyde Review: secondary legislation and the primacy of the House of Commons (Cm 9177) was published by the Committee on 5th February 2016 and can be read here.
On Wednesday 13 January 2016 I gave evidence, together with Lord Salisbury and Lord Hain, to the House of Lords Constitution Committee, on behalf of the Constitution Reform Group – you can see the evidence session here.
