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Last updated: 08 July 2009
Queen's Speech and finalising the programme
21.1 Legislation Secretariat prepares the Queen's Speech on behalf of Legislation Committee. The Speech will be considered by Legislation Committee then by full Cabinet, as well as being commented on by Her Majesty.
21.2 In early autumn Bill teams will be asked to provide a single sentence summarising the Bill for inclusion in the Queen's Speech. However, as the speech is very short, it is not normally possible to include references to all of the Bills which the Government plans to introduce. Instead, reference to other Bills may be made in the Prime Minister's statement following the Gracious Speech, and the Leader of the House of Commons will publish a full list of Bills, including Bills that the Government intends to publish in draft in the forthcoming session. Bill teams will also be asked to provide background briefing on the Bill for the subsequent Parliamentary debates on the Queen's Speech.
21.3 In advance of the Queen's Speech, Legislation Committee will review the state of readiness of all Bills and draw up the final programme. If Bills are not likely to be ready on time, they may be dropped. The Committee will consider the comments received during consultation on the Draft Legislative Programme and whether any changes should be made to the programme as a result. It will also consider any late emerging priorities for legislation.
21.4 Bill teams should ensure that departmental press offices are ready to handle any inquiries as a result of the Bill being announced in the Queen's Speech, particularly where the Bill is high profile and/or has attracted comment during consultation on the Draft Legislative Programme. Alongside or shortly after the Queen's Speech the Government will also indicate what aspects of the legislative programme have changed as a result of consultation.
21.5 To assist with planning, Legislation Secretariat will aim to inform Bill teams of their target week for introduction well in advance of the Queen's Speech. Business Managers will want to ensure that a good number of high-profile Bills are introduced in the first week of the new session, with others introduced in the second or third week of the session. However, as a meeting of Legislation Committee to approve the Bill will be held a week before scheduled introduction, and papers for the meeting must be circulated three days and a weekend beforehand, effectively the Bill and accompanying documentation will need to be ready almost two weeks before introduction.
Legislation Committee papers for clearance for introduction to Parliament
21.6 Legislation Committee agreement is needed before a Bill can be introduced into Parliament or published in draft. Specific points relating to approval for publication in draft are dealt with in the next chapter.
21.7 Legislation Secretariat will arrange a meeting of Legislation Committee to consider the Bill's introduction and subsequent handling. Depending on the date scheduled for introduction, this may be before or after the Queen's Speech but will normally be about a week before the scheduled introduction date. The Minister in charge will be invited to prepare a Memorandum on the Bill and to attend the meeting. The Memorandum should be prepared using the L-Memorandum template at least three days and a weekend before the meeting. It must be accompanied by the other papers listed below. Parliamentary Counsel will normally supply the text of the Bill itself direct to Legislation Secretariat. Bill teams are encouraged to send an earlier draft of the Legislation Committee Memorandum to the Secretariat for comment.
21.8 The full set of papers required by Legislation Committee before it will approve a Bill for introduction are listed below. Legislation Secretariat can provide recent examples of these to Bill teams on request:
21.9 A wider stakeholder/media strategy may also be sent, but this is optional.
21.10 The Legislation Secretariat will publish the agenda and papers for the meeting on CabCom two days and a weekend before the meeting so the department must provide the papers in time for this to happen. Each department has a designated Cabinet Documents Officer (usually in the Secretary of State's Private Office) whose role is to monitor CabCom and ensure that the Committee papers are passed to the Minister in good time before the meeting.
The Legislation Committee meeting
21.11 At the meeting, the Chair of the Committee will generally ask the Minister if s/he wishes to add anything to the Memorandum, and s/he will normally be expected to briefly summarise the benefits of the Bill, referring where appropriate to the themes of the legislative programme, confirm that it is ready for introduction and indicate that s/he has given some thought to the Parliamentary Handling Strategy.
21.12 The Committee is primarily concerned with questions of timing, Parliamentary handling and the resolution of outstanding issues. The Minister's introduction should therefore cover any last-minute developments not included in the Memorandum. This could include any arrangements for publicity, and any departmental or Parliamentary points which other Ministers at the meeting can be expected to raise. This is also a good opportunity for the Bill Minister to make any requests for Royal Assent by a particular date (though Business Managers will not be able to offer any guarantees on this point). Bill teams may wish to discuss with Legislation Secretariat what issues are likely to arise at the meeting. Policy issues will not be reopened at this stage unless they give rise to a significant handling issue.
21.13 Legislation Committee will always wish to know that:
21.14 Several Bills may be covered in a single meeting. If all issues have been resolved, consideration of a Bill need not last long.
21.15 If all the above points have been satisfied, it is likely that the Committee will then approve the Bill for introduction “subject to any minor or drafting amendments”. The Legislation Committee Memorandum should indicate what amendments, if any, are likely.
21.16 If there are unresolved problems (which should arise only exceptionally at this stage) the Committee may decide that they should reconsider the Bill after those problems have been dealt with.
21.17 If the Committee has not specified a date for introduction, this will be agreed shortly after the meeting by Legislation Committee and the Strategic Communications Unit in No. 10.
21.18 The Committee may also take decisions about how the Bill is to be handled at later stages of its progress through Parliament (for example, whether any special procedures such as Second Reading Committee should be recommended) and the target date for achieving Royal Assent.
21.19 If a Bill is likely to need Committee on the floor of the Commons, or if MPs may argue for this, Legislation Secretariat and the Government Whips' Office in the Commons should be alerted at the earliest opportunity. The reasons for committing a Bill to a Committee of the whole House are various: it may need to be passed with speed; it may be of major constitutional significance or be controversial in ways which transcend normal party divisions; or it may be so uncontroversial that no amendments are expected.
21.20 The senior Parliamentary Counsel working on the Bill will attend the meeting of Legislation Committee, but it is exceptional for officials of the department to attend; any such attendance is limited to one legal advisor, for which the approval of the Chair must be sought through Legislation Secretariat.
Decision on House of introduction
21.21 The Committee will decide whether the Bill should start in the Lords or the Commons. Their aim is to ensure a balanced programme in both Houses.
21.22 A Bill will normally start in the Commons if one of its main features is to provide for new public expenditure or impose a charge on public funds, but Bills in which the creation of a charge is a subsidiary matter can start in the Lords. The Legislation Committee Memorandum will need to make clear whether or not introduction could be in either House (though any pressing requests should also have been put to Legislation Secretariat at an earlier stage).
21.23 It is important for the balance of the programme that there should be major Bills suitable for the Lords ready at the beginning of the session. However, introduction in the Lords is not suitable if there is a significant chance that the House might reject the Bill, since the Parliament Acts only apply to Bills introduced in the Commons.
21.24 Bill teams should check with their Minister's Private Office well in advance of introduction the Bill Minister's preferences for documents, box notes and speaking notes. It will also be a good idea to book tentative briefing slots with the Minister and find out the Minister's preferred style and level of detail for briefing well in advance. The Bill team should also ensure that everybody in the department who is involved in the Bill – Bill team, Parliamentary Branch and Private Office – is clear on the division of roles in supporting the Minister and completing other Bill tasks, to avoid wasteful duplication – for example, agree with Parliamentary Branch the procedure for receiving amendments, marshalled lists and copies of Hansard.
21.25 While Bill teams may wish to alert the Government Whips' Offices of any other major commitments the Bill Minister may have during the Parliamentary stages of the Bill, e.g. a planned overseas visit, it is very unlikely that the Whips will be able to reschedule any of the Bill's stages to take account of the Bill Minister's other commitments. As well as alerting the Minister's Private Office to dates as soon as they are agreed, the Bill team may also wish to remind the Minister's Office that Parliamentary business must take precedence over all other business.