Coronavirus Bill: Local authority meetings

A briefing on the provisions in the Coronavirus Bill 2019-21 concerning powers to waive legal requirements around local authority meetings.

Clause 78 of the Coronavirus Bill 2019-21 introduces regulation-making powers with regard to meetings and proceedings of local authorities.

These provisions appeared as Government amendments, introduced at Committee Stage in the Commons on 23 March 2020. They were approved without debate. They now form clause 78 of the Bill as introduced into the House of Lords on 24 March 2020.

The Government’s exact plans for exercising these regulation-making powers, and the timescale in which they will be exercised, are not yet known at the time of writing.

This part of the Bill extends to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The regulation-making powers are to be held by the (UK) Secretary of State, the Welsh Ministers, and the Northern Ireland Department for Communities respectively. Any regulations are to be made under the negative procedure in each legislature.