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fault is not only the Commissions. There have been serious faults at various
points in the relationship with the Department of Justice and the new Ministry
of Justice. But the net effect of these poor relationships has been that the
Commission has been less effective than it could have been. This factor has
contributed to the low rate of enactment of its proposals. The Commission
needs to work harder at developing its relationship with the Executive
Government.
36. Law-making depends on teamwork. The Law Commission should work in
partnership with Departments of State as it has done with the Ministry for
Economic Development on e-Commerce and Insolvency.
37. Where the Law Commission is working on a reference, better co-ordination
could be achieved if there was a single official within the lead agency who was
designated to be the liaison point.
38. On some projects it may be better for the Law Commission to voluntarily
surrender some of its independence and work in partnership with a policy
Department to fashion proposals for legislative change.
39. The Law Commission should plan to provide support for its legislative
proposals throughout the parliamentary process.
Implementation of Commission Reports
40. The strike rate of the Law Commission in getting significant law reform enacted
on the Statute Book has not been high. It probably has not been high enough to
justify the expenditure of public moneys on the Commission. An average of
one significant statute a year is not really good enough for a body of this
character.
41. Where the Law Commission completes a Report that is tabled in Parliament, the
Government should treat the Report in the same way as it treats a Select
Committee Report. A response should be tabled in the House within six months
of receiving the Report. The response should set out the Governments policy
in relation to the Report. The Law Commission Act should be amended to