The Law Commission asked for submissions on which areas of law would benefit from reform, they are interested in examining laws which are:

causing substantial unfairness;

widely discriminatory or disproportionately costly; or

caused by laws or policies that are complex, 

hard to understand or have fallen out of step with modern standards.

We wrote to them concerning breed specific legislation and the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, as amended, this is their latest reply:

Dear stakeholder,

Thirteenth Programme of Law Reform: First sift

Thank you for responding to our recent consultation and proposing that the Law Commission consider undertaking a law reform project on the question of reviewing the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. In line with our published timetable, we have now completed the first sift of submissions and I am pleased to tell you that Commissioners have selected your proposal to be taken forward for further consideration.

We had an excellent response to our consultation. We received more than 1300 submissions, many of which could potentially translate into valuable and important law reform projects. As I am sure you can imagine, it is taking us some time to evaluate what are often quite detailed suggestions.

To help us decide which proposals to include in our programme, we apply rigorous selection criteria relating to importance, suitability and resources. We also consider the degree of support available from the government department relevant to each project, and whether the department is able to give an undertaking that there is a serious intention to take forward law reform in that area. We are currently in the process of meeting with Departments to assess the potential level of support for your proposal.

If you would like to discuss with us what more you could do to support the case for this project, please contact public@lawcommission.gsi.gov.uk.
We would also be grateful for suggestions of groups or individuals that could assist us in gathering more evidence supporting the impact of the problem you have outlined and the benefit of reform.

Commissioners will be deciding on the final list of projects in May, after which, as required by the Law Commissions Act 1965, we shall refer the programme to the Lord Chancellor for approval. At this point we will contact you to let you know whether your proposal has been selected for the Programme. All being well, we hope to publish the Thirteenth Programme of Law Reform in July 2017.

Yours sincerely,

Phil Golding

Chief Executive