The Coronavirus Act 2020 was passed in March 2020 following limited parliamentary debate. Partly to assuage concerns about its implications for rights and parliamentary oversight, the Act includes a clause requiring the House of Commons to vote on the continuation of temporary powers in use under the Act every six months. Later this month the third (and likely last) of these reviews will take place. In this webinar researchers from the COVID-19 Review Observatory and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law reflect on what the previous two such reviews suggest about parliamentary accountability and oversight in the pandemic, and what key actions should be taken in the forthcoming review to ensure accountability to Parliament for the Act, its use, and its impacts.

Speakers:

Professor Fiona de Londras - Principal Investigator, COVID-19 Review Observatory (CVRO)

Katie Lines - Research Fellow in Rule of Law Monitoring of Coronavirus Legislation at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law

Daniella Lock (Chair) - Research Fellow at CVRO