Parliamentary Counsel

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What is OPC for?

OPC’s main function is to provide drafting services and procedural and other handling advice to legislating departments in connection with—

• the Bills the UK Government wants prepared for introduction into the UK Parliament;
  
• the draft Bills¹ the UK Government wants to be published for pre-legislative scrutiny or other public consultation; and
• all statutory instruments (“SIs”) that amend primary legislation² (including those that make significant non-textual amendments).

OPC and 1st PC also have additional functions that are not directly related to the preparation or handling of primary legislation or SIs for central Government departments.

• Some Counsel will be on loan at any one time to the Law Commission.
• One Counsel is lent for two days a week to the Welsh Assembly Government (“WAG”).
• 1st PC is an adviser on certain constitutional matters to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Secretary and the officials who work to them.

None of these additional functions is covered by this document. Their practical effect is that only about 80% of the full complement of Counsel is available, at any one time, to work for government departments on Bills, draft Bills and SIs.

OPC aims—

• to achieve the highest standards, in terms of both quality and timeliness, in the drafting and procedural handling of the government’s legislative programme (including Finance Bills³ , “handout” Bills⁴ and draft Bills for pre-legislative scrutiny or other public consultation); and
• to provide the best possible service to Government departments in connection with the other matters on which OPC’s advice or other assistance is sought (in particular, in the vetting and drafting of subordinate legislation).

1st PC creates a team of Counsel for each legislative project (Bill, draft Bill or SI). A team for a Bill or draft Bill will consist of at least two Counsel and may consist of more. Sometimes one Counsel will be asked to vet or draft an SI without the assistance of another. Counsel are likely to be involved in more than one legislative project at the same time, sometimes in differently constituted teams. They will explain their other commitments and how they will need to organise priorities.

OPC’s work on Bills and draft Bills is organised to meet the needs of the Government’s legislative programme, as agreed by Cabinet on the recommendation of Ministerial  Committee of the Cabinet on Legislation (known as “PB Committee”). Ministerial responsibility for the management of the legislative programme rests primarily with the chair of L Committee, currently the Leader of the House of Commons, and the other Government business managers (the Leader of the House of Lords and the Chief Whip in each House). The Finance Bill is outside the L Committee system but still needs to be fitted in with the rest of the programme.⁵ 

At official level Counsel work to achieve OPC’s aims by establishing close working partnerships with the Bill teams in legislating departments (or with those working on an SI) and their lawyers and also, in the case of Bills and draft Bills, with the PB Committee Secretariat (the part of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat in the Cabinet Office that services PB Committee).

This guide sets out the conditions for enabling these partnerships to work well and for facilitating effective teamwork between all the officials working on a legislative project, including members of OPC.

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1. In this guide references to draft Bills includes references to parts of draft Bills. Sometimes the UK Government will wish to publish a set of draft clauses and Schedules, instead of a draft Bill.
2. OPC usually deals with SIs by vetting drafts provided by the department. However, OPC has the function of drafting all Transfer of Functions Orders under the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975 (“TFOs”) on instructions provided by the department, and at other times departments may agree that it would make more sense for certain SIs to be drafted in OPC on instructions, rather than vetted.
3. Finance Bills do not go through the procedure described in the Procedural handling of a Bill section.
4. Handout Bills are Bills prepared for the Government for handing to private members for introduction as private members Bills.
5. Exceptionally other financial legislation or emergency legislation may also fall outside the PB Committee system.