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Last updated: 07 May 2010
The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel are a specialised team of about 60 lawyers with their main office at 36 Whitehall. Their main work is drafting Government Bills for introduction into Parliament and related Parliamentary business. The OPC handle all Government Bills apart from one or two specialised types and those relating only to Scotland.
Members of the OPC are also loaned (usually for two years at a time) to the Law Commission where they are mainly engaged on the preparation of law reform Bills and consolidation Bills. The OPC has also loaned members (again for about two years at a time) to HM Revenue and Customs, where they helped on a project designed to simplify tax legislation.
A Bill is drafted on instructions from the legal branch of the Government department concerned. The functions of Parliamentary Counsel are not confined to the choice of language, but include (to a greater or lesser extent) the clarification and detailed working out, in consultation with lawyers and administrators in the department, of the policy to be given effect to by the Bill and of the conceptual and legislative structure appropriate for this purpose.
The work on a Bill includes drafting amendments to be moved by the Government in the course of the Bill's passage through Parliament; drafting any necessary financial and other resolutions; advising the department concerned with the Bill on opposition and back-bench amendments and on questions of Parliamentary procedure; attending, as required, sittings of both Houses (and Committees of those Houses) when a Bill is under discussion; and co-operation with officers of both Houses.
Typically a team of two or three Counsel is allocated to a Bill or other project. A team will be led by a senior member of the Office (Parliamentary Counsel or Deputy Parliamentary Counsel). Some Counsel may work on two or more differently constituted teams. The instructions for a Bill are allocated to the senior Counsel, who then takes full responsibility for it and handles it together with the junior Counsel in the team. The Counsel correspond and confer as necessary with the department or departments involved, and with the Law Officers on matters of concern to them. With the exception of the annual Finance Bills, specialisation is not encouraged; any one of the Counsel is expected to be able to deal with a Bill on any subject.
While the main work of the OPC consists in drafting Bills, Parliamentary Counsel also draft certain Orders in Council and other subordinate legislation when specially instructed. They also review subordinate legislation which amends primary legislation; this arises particularly in relation to European matters. They also advise the Government on legal, parliamentary and constitutional questions falling within their special experience.
Read the 2009-10 business plans for OPC and for the entire Cabinet Office:
