Legal System | Law Making

Introduction: Delegated Legislation

15 March 2012 Download

through enabling act or parent act Parliament delegates powers to other persons or bodies
known as subordinate or secondary legislation
Orders in Council: drafted by Government, formally signed by Privy Council and Monarch
can be used to transfer responsibilities between Government departments, dissolving Parliament, compliance with EU directives and in national emergency
statutory instruments: made by Government Ministers within the area of their responsibility, used to update laws
By laws: made by local authorities and public bodies and confirmed by the appropriate Ministe, apply only to a local authority area or public body
Court Rules Committee given delegated powers to make procedural rules for the courts, eg Civil Procedure Rules 1998
debate over whether there is sufficient scrutiny
Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill 2006
- Bill proposed to give powers to Ministers to amend and repeal primary legislation
- criticised and dubbed Abolition of Parliament Bill
- initial Bill was amended
- Act introduces two types of orders Ministers can make: for the purpose of removing or reducing burdens or to ensure that regulatory bodies comply with the five Principles of Good Regulation (transparency, accountability, proportionality, consistency and targetting situations which require attention)
delegated legislation becomes invalid if it goes beyond the scope of the authority conferred by the parent Act
it is ultra vires (outside their powers)

save Parliamentary time, would be impossible for Parliament to pass all statutory instruments each session
detail can be left to appropriate Ministers and Parliament can concentrate on the general principles in enabling Act
passed quickly in order to deal with situations when they arise and emergencies
Movement Restrictions (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) (No.2) Regulations 2007 were statutory instruments passed to help deal with the foot and mouth crisis

can be prepared by those with specialist knowledge, sometimes which Parliament does not possess
Ministers and Civil Servants have considerable knowledge within their particular area of responsibility
Cableway Installation Regulations 2004 made in order to comply with an EU directive by the Ministry of Transport, required technical understanding of cable cars and ski lifts

not directly debated in Parliament, apart from the statutory instruments which are subject to affirmative resolution procedure
Orders in Council drafted by the Government but approved by the unelected Monarch and Privy Council
can be seen as undermining the doctrine of Parliamentary Sovereignty

body or person who has been given the power to make the law may pass this on to another
statutory instruments are often drafted by civil servants and simply rubber stamped by Minsters

only subject to limited Parliamentary controls
Delegated Powers Scrutiny Committee examines all Bills with delegating powers before they begin their passage through the House of Lords
Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee reviews legislation that has been made from delegated powers
Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments examines whether statutory instruments comply with the provisions in the enabling act
rarely attracts much publicity as it is not debated in Parliament so another layer of scrutiny and accountability is removed
MPs may lack ability to monitor because it is often highly technical in nature

2011: 3133 statutory instruments introduced compared to just 30 Acts of Parliament
difficult for public and interested parties to raise objections or input into the legislation
can be hard to keep up with changes and establish the current laws