Law Commission Annual Report 2014–15: a very successful year

The Law Commission’s Annual Report 2014–15, published today, charts the Commission’s activities and achievements over the past year, including our law reform, consolidation and statute law repeals work; the beginnings of our 50th anniversary celebrations; and all we have done to strengthen ties with our valuable stakeholders.

The past year has been the most productive year in the history of the Law Commission in terms of the volume of law reform reports produced. We have laid 12 reports before Parliament, recommending reform in areas of law as diverse as the management of wildlife, social investment by charities, hate crime and insurance contract law. Eight of our reports have been implemented in Westminster during the year, notably in the Care Act 2014 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and one in Wales: the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.

The Report charts the progress we have made on our law reform projects, including the nine new projects of the 12th Programme, which we launched in July 2014. It also includes features on two of the most important events of our year: a panel discussion in Cardiff, at which we were joined by 90 stakeholders from the National Assembly, the Welsh Government, the senior judiciary and the public, voluntary and business sectors; and the 2015 Scarman Lecture, given by long-time champion of law reform Sir Geoffrey Palmer, formerly President of the New Zealand Law Commission and Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Launching the Annual Report, Chairman, Sir David Lloyd Jones, said: “This has been a notably successful year for the Law Commission. We have launched our 12th Programme, published a significant number of law reform reports and seen no fewer than eight of our reports implemented. This is my final Report as Chairman and I would like to pay tribute to my fellow Commissioners and the staff of the Commission for the expertise and dedication they have shown this past year.”