Law making - legislative process (paper 2)

Question 1

If a change in the law is being considered, it will draft ideas for change, what are these draft documents known as?

Answer 1

Green and White papers

Question 2

What are green and white papers?

Answer 2

Green paper - consultative document put forward by a minister and outlines a proposed legal reform of something e.g knife crimes
- other parties may then respond by sending their suggestions and comments on the proposition to to the minister’s department - thus process is begun

White paper - after a green paper a white paper may follow in which it outlines firm and specific proposals for the new law

• at this stage there is no consultation (unlike green paper)
• often accompanied by a draft or proposed law
• a minister may wish to start with the white paper instead of the green paper if he doesn’t want to consult before drafting the law

Question 3

What are the different types of bill?

Answer 3

Private members bill

Private bills

Public bills

Question 4

What are private bills?

Answer 4

Bills that are designed to only affect individual people or cooperations, not the whole country

Introduced by Ministers or backbenchers but are rare

Example: College London Act 1996, set up the university college hospital

Question 5

What are private members bills?

Answer 5

Individual (private) MPs introduce a bill

They can be from any political party and are known as ‘backbenchers’ because they do not sit in the front row in the House of Commons with the government

There are two ways a private MP can introduce a bill:
- by ballot
- ten minute rule, where MP is allowed to make a speech proposing the bill that lasts no more than 10 mins

Example: Abortion Act 1967

Question 6

What are public bills?

Answer 6

Most frequent types of bill

These involve matters of public policy affecting the whole country or a large section of it

Usually the type of bill proposed by Minister of the Government

Example: Tribunals, courts and enforcement act 2007

Question 7

What is the legislative process?

Answer 7

To become law, a bill must pass a number of stages in both Houses of Parliament and receive royal assent

Question 8

State and briefly explain the 7 stages of the legislative process

Answer 8

First reading - name and main aim is read out, no discussion and no vote

Second reading - main discussion and debate on the bill, vote is taken at the end of the day, must be majority in favour for bill to go to the next stage

Committee - 16-50 cross party MPs/entire house sits as committee on financial bills/House of Lords, whole house is debating and scrutinising the bill amendments sent back, bill ping pongs until agreement

Report - any proposed amendments made at the committee stage are debated and voted on. They are accepted or rejected and may be further arrangements

Third reading - stage is just a formality, final vote

Other house - once bill pass Houses of Parliament sent to the other house to pass through almost identical stages there. All stages above are repeated in the second chamber (usually HOL) unless bill started in HOLs, in which it will repeat stages in the commons

Royal assent - once the bill has passed all stages, it becomes law once monarch signs it, thereby the bill royal ascent into law. Simply performed by the king as he has no power to refuse the bill because he is not elected

Question 9

What are the advantages of the legislative process?

Answer 9

Democratic

Scrutiny

Parliamentary sovereignty

Thorough period of consultation

Question 10

Explain why an advantage of the legislative process is that it is democratic

Answer 10

It is a democratic process as laws (legislation) is largely passed by our MP’s who are elected representatives of the people, chosen to pass laws for them.

It is more democratic now since the 1911 and 1949 Parliament Acts which limited the House of Lords’ (the unelected house made up of hereditary and life peers) powers to stop bills/legislation which the governments wants to pass . They can now only delay it.

However the H of L is made up of many experts in their fields of law, medicine, armed forces and business and their expertise can be useful as a check on the commons.

Question 11

Explain why an advantage of the legislative process is scrutiny

Answer 11

The bills have to be debates through many stages in both houses of parliament before they become law

They are given numerous readings and are also subjected to scrutiny by dedicated committees (committee stage)

Question 12

Explain why an advantage of the legislative process is parliamentary sovereignty

Answer 12

Parliament can make whatever it likes, it is in no way limited.

Emergency bills can be passed very quickly, the coronavirus act 2020 went from being introduced as a bill to becoming an act in under a week

Question 13

Explain why an advantage of the legislative process is that there is a thorough period of consultation

Answer 13

There is a thorough/comprehensive period of consultation through green papers which gives the public, interested parties (those affected) the opportunity to have their say and possibly (but not always) the chance to shape the bill.

The legislative process is very open and all the Parliamentary Debates are recorded in a document/record called Hansard which is available for the public to read. It is a transparent process. This process

allows Parliament to note and act on public opinion which it did when it banned smoking in public.

Question 14

Extra advantage - individual MPs can introduce legislation that is relevant to their constituents and their own moral and ethical interests using private members bill…

Answer 14

It can lead to changes in the law that have popular support even if not formally backed by the government, such as the Abortion Act 1967. This allows for development of the law

However in practice, the government control the legislative agenda in parliament, meaning there is often little time for private members bills to be considered

Question 15

What are the 3 disadvantages of the legislative process?

Answer 15

Government control

Length of process

Time constraints

Political influences

Question 16

Explain why a disadvantage of the legislative process is government control

Answer 16

The government has control of the parliamentary timetable and often do not allocate enough time to private member bills

Which often deal with important moral issues

As a result very few of these become laws

Question 17

Explain why a disadvantage of the legislative process is the length of the process

Answer 17

There are many stages of scrutiny which bills are subjected to and each one can take months to complete, before them all having to be repeated in the second house

The problems that arise from this is that the bill does not become effective as law quickly so the public has to wait for its benefits

Question 18

Explain why a disadvantage of the legislative process is time constraints

Answer 18

Parliamentary sessions are continuously busy with the urgent parliamentary business of running the country.

As such there is not always time to properly address certain key areas of law e.g non fatal offences which need reform

It is time consuming, technical and there are lots of delays which results in Parliament only being able to pass around 17 Acts each year and having to rely on the less democratic process of delegating its law making powers to other bodies

Question 19

Explain why a disadvantage of the legislative process is political influence

Answer 19

Political influences: law making me often be the result of political influences (such as the Government having to make good its pre- election promises) rather than genuine debate

This is not truly independent law making reflecting the views of the people. The commons does what the government tells it- or tries to tell it to do.

Question 20

Extra disadvantage - Parliamentary draftsmen use complex legal language…

Answer 20

That is hard to understand for people who are not legally qualified

This means that the law may not be clear, which is contrary to the rule of law which states the law should be ascertainable

However, the increasing use of schedules and explanatory notes makes the purpose and meaning of acts clearer, to an extent