Counsel Magazine

The last Queen’s Speech before next year’s General Election covered an ambitious range of measures, including free social care for the
neediest pensioners, help for consumers to bring group legal action against fi nancial institutions and compulsory reporting of gender pay diff erences. The programme, to be implemented within 80 Parliamentary days before the June election deadline, is made up of ten new Bills, three carried over from the previous session and two draft Bills. The legislation includes:

• Th e Social Care Bill, which applies to England only, would see 400,000 elderly people offered help with care in their own homes.
• The Financial Services Bill would establish a Council for Financial Stability, and makes banks and fi nancial fi rms hold larger reserves of capital and set up “living wills” to make it easier to wind down in the event of failure. However, there is no cap for bonuses.
• The Equality Bill would extend the ban on age discrimination to the provision of goods and services as well as in the workplace. Businesses with more than 250 employees will have a duty to report on gender differences in pay.
• A Bribery Bill makes it illegal to bribe a foreign offi cial or accept a bribe to obtain or retain business.
• Th e Fiscal Responsibility Bill commits the government to halving the £825 billion budget deficit within four years.