UK Parliament - The Process of Turning a Bill Into a Law

by grovesjoseph04gmailcom (student)

The Process of Turning a Bill Into a Law

The process of turning a bill into a law has 5 main steps, these are: the decision to legislate, preparation of the bill, clearance for introduction, parliamentary stages and royal assent.

The Decision to Legislate

During each session of parliament, the government has a legislative programme, this is a list/plan of the bills that they will ask Parliament to consider in the session (the period between elections is split into sessions each one lasting about a year. Each session, bills may be passed that aren’t part of that legislative programme. These could be emergency bills that are needed to deal with a specific problem that has arisen, like the coronavirus. If a government department has a bill proposal that it wants to include in the legislative programme for that session, they have to submit a bid for the bill to the PBL (Parliamentary Business and Legislation) Committee of the Cabinet. The PBL committee will consider the bids that have been submitted and recommend some provisional content of the programme to Cabinet.

Preparation of the Bill

When a bill gets a slot in the legislative programme, the related department will create a bill team to co-ordinate the preparation and passage through parliament. The policy officials then prepare policy instructions for the departmental lawyers which will, in turn, form the basis of instructions to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to make a draft of the bill. Instructions will set out the background and explain the changes in the law that the bill might cause.

The first draft of a clause or set of clauses is seldom the final word on that topic, and the drafting and commenting on them will continue until a reasonable and satisfying conclusion is reached.

Clearance for Introduction

Even if a bill has a slot in the legislative programme, it still can’t be introduced until a meeting of the PBL committee has cleared it for introduction.

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The first draft of a clause or set of clauses is seldom the final word on that topic, and the drafting and commenting on them will continue until a reasonable and satisfying conclusion is reached.

Clearance for Introduction

Even if a bill has a slot in the legislative programme, it still can’t be introduced until a meeting of the PBL committee has cleared it for introduction.

The committee will consider several documents within the same meeting. Some of these will be pushed alongside the bill. Others, like the department’s Parliamentary Handling Strategy and its assessment of the bill’s relationship with the European Convention on Human Rights, are only for the committee’s consideration.

If the PBL committee is satisfied that the bill is ready and that other legal and procedural issues are resolved, it will approve the introduction subject to the necessary minor and drafting changes.

Parliamentary Stages

Most bills either begin in the House of Commons or the House of Lords. This is based on the need to make sure each House has a balanced legislation programme to consider each session. However, some of the bills have to start in the House of Commons, such as bills with the main aim of imposition of taxation or bills of major constitutional importance.

Most bills are put through the following stages in each House before becoming law

First Reading

This stage is just a formality with no debates.

Second Reading

This is a debate on the bill’s main principles and is held in the chamber. One of the government ministers will open the debate by setting the bill’s case and explaining its provisions. Then, the opposition will respond and after that, the other members are free to discuss it. In the end, the government will close the debate by responding to the points made. No amendments can be made to the text of the bill at this stage but, members may give some ideas of the changes they will be proposing at a later stage. At the end of the debate, the House will vote and if that vote is lost by the government, the bill cannot proceed any further, however, this will rarely happen at this stage.

Committee Stage

This is a line-by-line consideration of the bill. In the Commons, this process will likely be carried out by a specially convened committee of MPs that reflects the strength of those in the House as a whole. Alternatively, the committee stage may be taken in the chamber.

A Public Bill Committee in the commons can take oral and written evidence on the bill. In either House the Committee which clauses to keep in the bill and which ones they should remove.

Government amendments to Bills may be changes to assure that the bills work as they should. Unless these changes are purely technical in their effect, they will need the agreement of the PBL Committee before they can be tabled, and be substantial changes will need clearance too.

Report Stage

In each House, this stage takes place in the chamber. The only things they discuss amendments, so if none are tabled this will stage is just another formality. As in the Committee stage, the amendments are open to change what is already in the bill or involve new provisions being introduced.

“English Votes for English Laws”

The “EVEL” (or “English Votes for English Laws”) procedures apply to a bill in the commons if the bill or any part of it relates exclusively to England and Wales and/or the Scottish Parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly could make equal provision. They could also apply if the bill or any part of it relates exclusively to England and equivalent provision is possible from the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Third Reading

In the Commons, this is a discussion of the bill which happens immediately after the Report stage. No amendments are possible. In the Lords, Third Reading will be done on a later day, and cleaning up amendments can be tabled.

Later Stages

Both Houses must agree on the text of a bill before it can go any further. This means that if the bill is changed in one house, it must go back to the other House for such changes to be considered. If the first House rejects the changes, then they can make changes to them or suggest alternative changes. This can cause a bill to bounce between Houses many times before an agreement is reached, this is called “ping pong”

Royal Assent and Beyond

A bill that has been accepted by both houses becomes a law after it has received Royal Assent and Parliament has been made aware of the Assent. This will make it an act, even then, this might not have any effect until later on. Most provisions in any act will come into operation within a set period after the Royal Assent, likely two months later, or at a time fixed by Government. This happens to give everyone affected to hear about it and adjust/prepare.

Three to five years after the bill passes, the responsible department will review how effective it’s been and submit an assessment of it to the relevant Commons committee. They will decide whether they wish to perform a fuller post-legislative enquiry into it.

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