Charities will be able to influence the direction of new vetting and barring rules as part of new government measures to allow anyone to comment on new legislation as it goes through Parliament.

The Protection of Freedoms Bill, which includes changes to the controversial vetting and barring scheme, will include a new pilot public reading stage online allowing anyone to comment on each clause.

The comments will then be collated by the government and presented to the public bill committee, a cross-party House of Commons committee that will scrutinise the Bill.

The government wants the MPs on the committee to use the public’s views to inform this scrutiny.

If the pilot is successful the coalition will introduce a public reading stage for all bills. 

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Right now a tiny percentage of the population write legislation that will apply to 100 per cent of the population.

“This makes our laws poorer because it shuts out countless people across the country whose expertise could help.

“And it makes our politics poorer because it increases the sense that Parliament is somehow separate from the people rather than subservient to them.

“Our new public reading stage will improve the level of debate and scrutiny of bills by giving everyone the opportunity to go online and offer their views on any new legislation. That will mean better laws – and more trust in our politics.”